WTS Constantine and Legends of Tomorrow
by VladislavRaginis
Summary: Team Legends and Constantine and Co. are teleported into a room where time is frozen to watch LoT and Constantine. Yikes...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Gathering**  
**I do not own Constantine. If I did it would have way more than one season. Like, way more. So, I'm being weird when I do this and am going to add in Team Legends in to watch as well. I mean, we need more than, what, five people there. Yeah. I was planning on dragging Team Arrow in but decided not to. I haven't really watched Arrow since the 4th season. I am going to fail horrifically on doing John's accent/dialogue so please bear with me on that. He also is my favorite character so he's going to be mentioned a lot. The two teams have never met before. Actually, Team Legends hasn't even formed yet…. Anyways, on with the show. So yeah Constantine and Team Legends watch their respective shows.**

_3rd Person POV_

"That would be a bad idea John. You can't just waltz into a room that is potentially filled with demons without a plan!" Came the exasperated exclamation from Zed. All she got in return was a look that screamed 'watch me'. Chas just shook his head in a silent sigh. He was used to this kind of behavior by now, unfortunately.

"And why wouldn't I be able to Love?" he shot back. It wasn't as dangerous as Zed made it seem. Well, it shouldn't be anyways. He turned and left the table the three had been gathered around.

"John, wait!" came Zed's cry of frustration.

"This shouldn't take too long, I'll be back soon." He called in reply. He grabbed his coat from where it lay on the couch. He made his way quickly up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

"This won't end well." Chas said for the first time in the conversation as the door closed. Zed nodded in agreement. They turned towards the stairs. They didn't have time to question the bright light that encased them. It disappeared as soon as it came.

John had just exited the Mill house and was making his way across the yard. As soon as he left he began to get a bad feeling. It was as if he somehow felt that something would go wrong. Maybe Zed and Chas had been right. Maybe he did need backup. After all, wasn't Zed able to see visions? He shook the thoughts away. A bright light formed and transported the Exorcist away before he knew it.

Renee Chandler was having a less then enjoyable day. It was Saturday and Chas had been home, enjoying the time he had to spend with his family. They were at the park enjoying the sun. It had been raining constantly for the last 3 days. Then he showed up. John freaking Constantine. He appeared out of the blue and dragged her husband off on some mission. There was a reason she despised the man. His presence irked her to no end. That was why she never noticed a bright flash of light surround her and carry her to destinations unknown.

Anna-Marie was walking down the hall. She paused for a moment. A bright flash and she disappeared from the Monastery.

Rip quickly strode out and away from the Time Consul with clenched fists. Damn them all. He really shouldn't be to surprised that they would refuse to comply. Why would they? As all these thoughts flew through his mind, a bright light surrounded him. In a split second it had gone as fast as it had arrived. Where once an Ex Time Master had been was now empty with no one in sight.

Sara Lance wasn't having a great day. Like, at all. She really didn't appreciate the cold weather. And of course, where she had decided to stay for a while had to be freezing. She was currently located at the local bar. It was quite full. The day had ended and many had come from the workplace. She sat in a corner and quietly sipped her drink, alert for any possible threat. A bright white light surrounded her. It died down leaving an empty chair where the assassin had once sat.

Jefferson Jackson was working on an old car. He rolled out from under it to grab a tool. Unfortunately, he sat up to soon and slammed his head against it. He let out a quiet curse and rubbed his forehead. A bruise would defiantly form in the future. That was something he wasn't looking forward to. He grabbed the tool he needed and was preparing to return to his original spot underneath the vehicle. A bright light shone into his eyes and he raised his hand to shield them. A flash and the mechanic vanished. The tool clattered to the ground.

Martin Stein was looking at a paper he was currently writing. It was being quite frustrating as his mind kept wandering. He shook his head as he continued to stare. His vision began to grow extremely bright for an odd reason. A flash and he was gone.

Leonard Snart and Mick Rory were quickly making their way away from the store they had just exited. Police were no doubt on their way at that very moment and neither thief wished to be caught. Of course, even if they were they knew they'd most likely find a way to break out of Iron Heights. They had just begun to drive away when a bright light appeared and they disappeared.

Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders sat/stood in their apartment. Carter was drinking a coffee and Kendra was blow drying her hair. One of the many downsides of having long hair, it was a pain to brush and clean. A bright light surrounded the two reincarnated residents and disappeared.

Ray Palmer was leaning over a desk. He was working on his Atom suit as it required repairs. It had suffered quite the beating on last time he had worn it. He was just finishing said repairs when his alarm sounded. He blinked in confusion. He wasn't sure why it was ringing. He was almost positive that he hadn't set an alarm for anything. He reached to turn off the blaring noise. The second he touched it a bright light surrounded him and whisked him away to destinations unknown.

The heroes toppled onto each other in a giant heap. At once, many of those present began speaking at once. It wasn't until a muffled voice quietened the others down, quite explicitly to one might add.

"Get the bloody hell off of me!" John growled out. He had somehow managed to land himself underneath everyone else. It was far from a comfortable position. Thankfully, the noise stopped and the weight crushing down upon him began to lift as the others rolled off the pile.

"Where are we?" Jefferson asked, confusion dripping from his voice. The others looked around in the same condition.

"Maybe if you took a look around you'd find your answer." Drawled a certain cold gun wielding thief. He got a glare in response.

"He's not wrong, there is a note over here. Its contents are quite interesting and it explains the TV in the room." Sara broke into the conversation.

John walked over and picked it up from where it had been left.

_"Dear Legends,_  
_I have gathered you all to watch your futures an, in some cases, your past. I'm looking at you Constantine and Co. First up is the past in a show by the name of 'Constantine'. Just by the name we can tell who it's about. It is about their past adventures. The next is about you Legends and your adventures. You may as well introduce yourselves. The show will start tomorrow at 10 AM. Be here. Food and beds and such are provided. No, you will not be allowed to smoke here John and no alcoholic beverages Mick. Don't complain. Another note will be left here tomorrow. Otherwise, enjoy!_  
_P.S. Maybe I'll pop in once in a while. You never know._  
_P.P.S Time is stopped while you're here."_

John finished reading. His eyebrows shot up. He certainly wasn't a fan of people learning about his past. Hopefully it wouldn't delve to deep and certain parts would be left out. Hopefully. He looked around at the other occupants reaction to the news. It wasn't too different from his for many. There were only a few who weren't though.

"Well, we should introduce ourselves like the letter suggested. I'll go first!" Ray said, excitement dripping from his words. Actually, dripping didn't cover it. It was more of like a waterfall.

"All right. Seeing as there's no way out of this we may as well do as .asked. Everyone get in a circle." Sara said. She really did not want to do the whole introduction circle but she would, admittedly, feel much better if she knew who some of these people were. The others grumbled more then a little but complied with her command. Soon enough they had all gathered around and sat down. There were no chairs in sight.

"OK, so we go around and say our names? We can leave out other information to make it a mystery to figure out what we all do" Ray said.

"Yeah, but if you forgot, most of us have met one way or another." Sara shot back.  
Before anyone else had a chance to reply he spoke. "Hi, I'm Ray Palmer." He said before looking at Jefferson.

"I'm Jefferson Jackson. You can call me Jax." He answered Ray's questioning look.

"Martin Stein."

"Mick Rory. I work with Snart"

"As Mick said before, I'm Leonard Snart."

"I'm Carter Hall and this is.."

"Kendra Saunders. I can introduce myself.

"Sara Lance."

"Rip Hunter."

"John Constantine.

"Chas. Chas Chandler."

"Renee Chandler."

"Zed. Just Zed."

"Anna Marie."

The circle had been completed. Nothing changed. They sat there for a bit.

"I'm going to go explore." John said as he stood. Chas and Zed soon followed. As they left, a silence fell upon the remaining. The three wouldn't be gone long as they would soon return. A look of annoyance was on all threes faces.

"So, what'd you find?" Ray asked.

"Not much. A kitchen, a hallway of rooms that are bedrooms, a bathroom for both genders, and this room." Zed replys. The other two are having a silent conversation.

"It's late. I don't know about you but if I'm getting up to be here around 10, I'm retiring for the night." Stein excused himself. As he stood a murmur of agreement swept throughout.

"We're going to have to buddy up for this." Chas spoke up. A look was shared. Rip stepped forward.

"An idea could be this. Mr. Rory and Mr. Snart will share a room as will Mr. Stein and Jefferson. Mr Hall and Mrs Saunders will obviously be together. Mr and Mrs Chandler will be together. Mrs Lance and Mrs Marie will be together. Ray will be with Mr Stein and Mr Jackson. Mr Constantine and I will be in the last room." Rip listed.

"The two skinny brits in trenchcoats share a room." Mick rolled his eyes and turned towards the door. Everyone followed. Soon it was only Rip and John left. They seemed to analyze each other for a moment.

"I take it you're the unlucky bastard in charge of the 'Legends'." John half asked half said.

"Technically I'm not yet. I will be in the future. This is going to wreak havoc on the timeline..." Rip slowly went off into silence.

"So, who exactly are you. No one can know the future."

"Captain Rip Hunter, Time Master and Captain of the Waverider. You are?"

"John Constantine, Exorcist, Demonologist, and... dabbler in the Dark Arts."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Non Est Asylum Part 1**

**Warning: Characters are most**

**Show and stuff**

Morning came to fast for some. An alarm blared throughout the building. The horrid and invading sound jerked them out of their slumber. Their annoyance was made perfectly clear. They were wearing the same as they were yesterday as no change of clothes had been provided. Whilst this was unfortunate, they dealt with it. The Brightside did show itself soon enough. This came in the shape of a kitchen. Anna Marie looked at a clock on the wall. They had around fifteen minutes before the show would start. She made this known. Needless to say, they didn't have a long breakfast.

"All right. Gather round. Let's get this over with so we can get home." Sara said as she entered the room.

The group slowly made their way into the room with the TV. There were multiple couches and chairs scattered around it. Everyone dropped down onto one. John had a seat to himself. Technically it had the capacity for three but he had laid across it like a bed. Chas and Renee sat in a two person couch next to his. Anna-Marie and Zed were left to sit together. They took up one side of the room. On the other sat the remaining occupants. Rip sat alone on a squishy red chair. Carter and Kendra sat together as did Jax and Stein. The remaining members sat spread out and understandably so.

Eventually they all became comfortable. The TV flickered on. A quick notice revealed that the show would pause every time a person spoke. After that, without any warning, it began to play.

**The show began outside of an insane asylum in Northern England. The scene quickly changes to John strapped to a bed. He is wearing a hospital type gown.**

"Well, this is a lovely way to start..." John trails off, remembering that day. He was just glad that they didn't start earlier. He wouldn't get his hopes up however as there was still much to go.

**"Make them nice and tight Love." he tells one of the nurses. They do and tighten the straps. John takes a deep breath before nodding to one. A button is pressed and 150 Volts are released. He thrashes around.**

**"Believe it or not, I came here voluntarily. My name is John Constantine and I'm an exorcist. In my line of work, there are days you just need to forget. But some you never will." He says from off screen. The scene switches to John sitting behind other patients. The other patients begin to fight. The title Constantine appears on the screen.**

"Why would you voluntarily sign yourself up for this?" Kendra asks. Questions run through everybody's minds. What was it that he wanted to forget was the most prominent.

**"You witnessed the murder of a girl. Talking can help you realize that it wasn't your fault." A man explains.**

More than one person gasped at the revelation. Rip adopted a sad expression. He knew what it was like, losing a child.

**"That would be a neat trick. Let's get to that part." John replies as he sits back in his chair.**

**"You can start by telling me what happened that night at Newcastle. Do you remember the killer?" The therapist asks.**

"What's Newcastle?" Ray asked. It seemed a perfectly reasonable question. John didn't respond.

**"See that demon every time I close my eyes." John replies. His voice seems to waver ever so slightly.**

**"By demon you mean murderer?" The therapist asks.**

**"By demon I mean a bloody demon." John replies. He is clearly getting frustrated with the man. He swivels his chair. "A foul creature. Smelled like a slaughterhouse." He continues. This time he chokes up on a few words.**

Chas sees John's expression and walks over. When John refuses to move his feet he pulls them off and drags the man into a sitting position. Zed goes and sits on his other side. She may not have been there but she'd heard plenty about it. John leaned his head against Chas. Said makeshift pillow didn't notice as the displeased glare sent to John by Renee. He may not have seen it, but that doesn't mean the Legends-to-be didn't. Both thieves shared a look.

**"You see what's happening, John?" The man begins before continuing "You feel guilty for being unable to protect the girl, so you turned her killer into the embodiment of evil." he pauses and gives what could be interpreted as a slight chuckle. "We're all powerless against demons."**

Rip considered this. John's position seemed awfully similar to his own.

**"Not all of us, chief." John says with a slight smirk. That would soon vanish.**

**"That's right. Before you checked yourself in here three months ago, you were working as an "Exorcist, Demonologist, and Master of the Dark Arts." The man states as he reads off of a business card.**

"I really need to get that changed…" John mumbled, mostly speaking to himself but causing many quiet chuckles from the others.

**"That says master does it? Well, I should really change that to petty dabbler. I hate to put on airs." John replies. He seems to become more frustrated. His voice tightens as if trying to suppress rage. This emotion is not helped by what the therapist says next.**

"Oh really? Are you certain about that John?" Anna Marie asked with raised eyebrow.

**"You wouldn't have been able to prevent the girl's death." He says before being cut off.**

"That was probably not the right thing to say." Jax said. It was the first time he had spoken since they had started watching the show. Snart thought about how it would feel if he had lost Lisa and wouldn't have been able to protect her.

**"Astra!" John exclaims in anger. The therapist looks at him. "Her name was Astra." John grinds out before continuing. "And I can handle her death. It's her damnation that's eating me alive. Dragged to hell."**

"Nine years old… That's horrible..." Kendra whispered.

"Lovely observation." John shot back without looking up.

**"John, it's time to face the truth." The man cuts off John before being cut off himself.**

**"Nine years old, and suffering for all eternity." John continues. His voice drips with the feelings of sorrow and guilt. The therapist leans forward.**

**"The only one suffering here is you."**

**"That's on me, mate."**

**"There are no demons." The therapist says. This is the wrong thing to say.**

**"So you keep telling me!" John exclaims as he stands. He leans on the desk and looks the man in the eyes and continues "Now make me believe." He shrugs his shoulders and asks him one thing before leaving. "It's what I'm paying you for, isn't it?"**

"I'm so sorry. Sorry doesn't even begin to cut it. I can't imagine what it would be like." Kendra spoke what was on everyone's mind once more. John was looking down and mumbling something inaudible.

**The scene changes. John sits in a circle with multiple other patents. One man is speaking.**

**"My goal today was to break my habit rituals. Like, I make a cup of tea and then I stir it nine times." the man explains. John leans back, boredom evident. The man continues "And then I've got nine minutes to drink it in. So it's nine sips in nine minutes. Everything is in multiples of nine. Keeps bad things away, you know?" **

**The man's explanation fades off as John turns towards the door. A roach is skittering across the floor. John gets up and follows it. He exits the room. More and more roaches appear. One person sits sobbing in the hall against a door as he passes. John takes a flight of stairs into a large room. A woman stands there painting. Roaches are all around.**

"You'd think they'd keep the place more sanitary. Don't they have some sort of safety inspections?" Stein asked. He was appalled at the state that the asylum was kept in.

**"Ah miss, whatever you're painting, there, you might want to stop now." He calls as he comes closer to the mysterious painter. She continues to do so, brushing away the roaches that come to close. The scene changes to show her face. Her eyes are a milky white. John walks up to look at her. "Miss?" He asks before pausing. He notices her eyes and his face shows shock. "No. No. No, no, no, no, no. This is not my problem." He turns to leave. He makes it a few steps before stopping, a look of resignation evident and mutters under his breath "Ah, bollocks." Before he does a 180 turn. He walks up to the possessed woman.**

"I assume your hesitance is because of this incident at Newcastle." Rip asked. It came out as a statement instead of the question it was meant to be.

**"I'm addressing the entity inside. Who are you? Tell me your name." His voice takes on a more forceful tone as he continues to speak. The woman turns her head to stare. He holds out his hand. She, or it, is sent back. John begins to speak once more, "Hear my words! In the name of the Creator, you are hereby commanded to leave this place! By the blood of man, be not, and be gone!" As he does so the sounds of screaming and snarling are heard. John began to chant "_Ab insidiis diaboli! Libera nos, Domine!_" The woman screamed and fell to the ground.**

"You're doing an exorcism I presume?" Stein asked. John shot him a look that screamed 'what-do-you-think?' at him. Stein mimicked a fish for a few seconds before replying. "Astonishing. To see an actual exor-"he was interrupted by Ray shushing him.

**"Oh, oh." She let out a gasp of surprise at her current situation.**

**"Don't worry, Luv. It's just paint." John said as she sat up. Looking at it, it was quite obvious it was not paint.**

"You lied to her?" Jax asked.

"Well, would you rather have told her she was painting was in blood?" John replied with a question.

"Oh, yeah. Good point."

**"What happened?"**

"An exorcism."

"Snart. I'm asking you as nicely as I can. Will you please shut up?" A voice spoke up. Surprisingly, it came from Renee. She was intrigued now. She still didn't change her opinion of John. It would take much more to change it.

**"A spirit took your body for a spin." He explains. She gives off a shocked noise. "To send me a message by the look of it." He continued.**

"That's one way to put it…" Sara mumbled

**"What's it mean?" She asked when she regained the ability to talk. John looked at her.**

**"It means I've been wasting my time here. I've got work to do." He said. He stood and made his way out. He passed through multiple staff who were looking at the scene before them.**

**"She did it."**

"Yeah, blame it on her. You do know that you played a part in the destruction, right?"

"I wasn't the one who was possessed. I fail to see how I'm at fault here. If I hadn't done what I did, things could've gotten worse." John replied. Renee glared. Anna Marie just sighed and rolled her eyes at his argument. Perfect John Constantine logic right there.

**End Chapter**

**So... Enjoyed it? The characters are most likely completely OOC. Yikes. You can probably tell that I'm not a huge fan of Renee. Probably because of her opinion on John. Also, I SUCK at writing any and all forms of dialogue. It's painful. Like, really painful. Anyways, hope you did. Review? IDK if that actually works but yeah. I'm far from a good writer...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: Non Est Asylum Part 1**

**Warning: Characters are mostly OOC**

**Show and stuff**

**Chapter 3: Non Est Asylum Part 2**

**I don't own LoT or Constantine. Extremely saddening. Characters are definitely OOC. Anyway, let's go. Btw, I'm using the official script/screenplay written so almost all of the bolded stuff is from it. Not all but most.**

**The scene skips to two people sitting in an office. One, a female, looks at the other, a male.**

**"Who has a brighter future? Me or the opera lady in the food court?" she asks her companion. He looks at her and replies.**

**"The opera lady."**

"That's rude." Ray speaks as if he is lecturing the man on the TV.

"You are aware that you're talking to a TV Haircut?" Mick gruffly spoke as he looks at Ray.

**"What?"**

**No college loans to pay off." He says as he asks for a fortune cookie. He opens it and laughs at it as it says "failure is the opportunity to do better next time." He reads. **

**"In bed." Liv adds on. Max looks at her.**

**"What?"**

**"You always add 'in bed to the end."**

**"Really?"**

**"Uh-huh."**

**"Let's read yours." Max says, looking expectedly at him. She agrees and breaks open the cookie.**

**"Okay, great, I have no future." She says as she pulls out a piece of paper.**

"Foreshadowing…"

"Snart!"

**"Here, one more for the road." Max says sympathetically as he hands her another of the cookies. She accepts it. "See you in the morning. Lock up." Max says as he stands to leave. As he does Liv looks at the cookie before sliding it into her pocket. She clears up all the take out on the desk. Her desk lamp begins to flicker and make buzzing sounds starts. Live leaves the room.**

**She locks the door behind her and heads toward her car. She unlocks it and gets in. She starts the engine and begins to backup when an audible alert beeps. She brakes and checks her backup camera. An alert states that there is an object detected behind even though nothing is visible behind it. She tries to back up once more but the alarm starts beeping faster. She parks the car and gets out. She leaves the engine running.**

"That probably wasn't the best idea. Its common knowledge you don't stand behind a running car." Ray points out the mistake.

**The car lot is silent and empty. She kneels behind the car to see if anything lay underneath. There is nothing. Inside of the care the backup screen lights up and shows Liv behind it. The odometer moves. The needle speeds up and the car engine revs.**

"See? Point proven."

"Don't care. Now shut it Haircut."

**Liv tries to get clear. She stumbles and falls. The exhaust pipes are roaring. Things aren't looking good. Suddenly, the engine stops. All the car lights cut off.**

**"Really?" Liv asks the night air. She pulls out her phone only to see that it's dead.**

**She leaves the car and walks across the lot. She passes by lampposts and lights. As she does, the lights flicker out. The asphalt below her rises up. She falls down. She nearly falls into a giant sinkhole that has opened up. She climbs up and scuttles away.**

**A yellow cab pulls out in front of her. Out steps the one and only John Constantine in his signature trench coat, shirt, and loose tie. It was impossible to tell who the driver.**

"And I'm back. Lovely." John says. He only half means it.

**"Well hello. What have we here? You in a bit of trouble, luv?" John says as he leans against the cab.**

**"Stay away from me!" Liv calls out, frantic. She pulls out a can of pepper spray and points it at John.**

"That's pointed the wrong way…" Rip states, shocked at how one could not notice.

**"You're pointing that the wrong way." He says. She looks at the can and it is indeed pointed at herself. She turns it around. John watches with an amused expression. He continues "My name's John Constantine. And I promise you, I'm not the one hunting you."**

"Firstly, creepy. Secondly, you should've found a better and less stalker like way to introduce yourself." Sara comments on John's tactics. He just looks at her.

"This is coming from an ex-assassin. Most hypocritical." He retorts. She looks at him with confusion.

"How on earth did you know I'm an ex-assassin?"

"I met you, well, more like your team, once. Owed Oliver one. I saved your soul. That answer your question?"

**"What are you talking about? Who's hunting me?" Liv asks.**

**"It's probably more of a what. Possibly an it." John says. Liv keeps the can raised.**

**"Stay away from me."**

**"It's easier to deny danger than face it. But make no mistake, if you don't listen to me, you'll be dead by morning." He warns her.**

**"I'm calling the police." Liv says as she fumbles to pick up her phone.**

**"With a dead phone?" He asks incredulously. She holds said phone up. It is now fully charged. She begins to dial. "If you're committed to calling the authorities, here's where they can reach me. Or you can. If you enjoy breathing." He says. It is said quite ominously. He hands her a business card.**

**"Master of the Dark Arts?" she says as she reads the card.**

**"I'm getting new ones made." John says with exasperation.**

Many outright laugh at this. It was just too hilarious not to, even if the two were in a parking lot at night.

**Liv turns away and runs off. John is left standing in a pool of light. He looks at the sinkhole. He decides to climb down into it. A gas line is in flames and a power cables torn down. A black shadow passes overhead. A ruffle of heavy wings is heard. John turns and sees a long and tall figure hidden in the shadows.**

**"Whoever you are, I'm a nasty piece of work. Ask anybody." John called out to the figure. The man, for man it was, stepped out and revealed himself. He was a black man and was dressed in dark greys. He was an angel.**

"John's not wrong there. After certain, adventures, we've done, he's proved that much." Chas, Zed, and Anna Marie share a look. They remembered that day when Pazuzu had possessed John.

**"You shouldn't be down here." The unnamed person said. John was trying to determine whether he is friend or foe.**

**"I could say the same for you. You come to admire your handiwork?" John asks as he recognizes what the being is.**

**"This wasn't my doing. What brings you back to the streets, John?" The man asks. He really is curious. John looks surprised to hear his name.**

**"A young lady. What else? I was asked to protect her by an old friend." He answers with caution.**

**"A dead friend, more likely." He throws in.**

**"Well he did have to possess a body, but he made his point. Crudely. Who are you?"**

**"You can call me Manny. I've been asked to watch over you."**

**"Watch over? No offense, mate, but I'm not in the habit of slumming with angels. You'll murder my reputation."**

**"So will a mental hospital."**

**"I checked out. All better." At this point John looked towards heaven and shouted "You hear that? I'm okay!" before returning his attention to Manny. "So flap off."**

**"You're not okay, John. You damned a girl to hell. Along with yourself. I can't change your fate bur I can ease your suffering." Manny says. His words were comforting. Mesmerizing in a way. Manny rests his hand on his shoulder. Even though it feels comforting, John forces himself to slap it away.**

**"You'd like that. All you beatific types are the same, like vampires. Go feed on someone else's loss." John retorts.**

**"But yours is exquisite."**

**"Don't worry about me, chief. I can handle a demon attack."**

**"Don't be so sure. You've been out of play a while. There's panic down here. People can sense what's on the way." Manny says. It's quite prophetic in a way.**

**"What's on the way?" John asked.**

**"We should go." Manny says, ignoring John's question and listening to the approaching sirens.**

**"Wait! What's on the way?!" John yells as Manny disappears into the night sky. The sirens grow louder and John begins climbing out of the hole.**

"Could've at least give me a hint as to its nature." John grumbles to himself. Damn angels. They could never just outright tell him things. They always had to be so damn prophetic.

**As this happens, Liv is being dropped off at her apartment building. She gets out of the passenger side. Her neighbor Talia exits on the driver's side. She is in her late 20's. Liv id thanking her for picking her up.**

**"It was no problem. I work five minutes away from you." Talia says. Liv continues her thanks.**

**"Thanks, Talia. I really do appreciate the ride." She states as the girls head up a walkway. Talia buzzes the two in and they enter the building.**

**"I'm just glad you got away from that freak. He sounded kinda rapey." Talia said.**

"Oy! I was not! I'd appreciate if you would, oh I don't know, stop laughing." John exclaimed as he threw his hands up into the air. His ears had a slight pink tinge to them. The others had doubled over laughing. Well, all but Renee, Kendra, and Anna Marie. They were just slightly, or not so slightly, disturbed at the thought.

**"He was wearing a trench coat."**

"So!" John exclaimed incredulously.

**"What, like a flasher or something?" Talia laughing as she spoke.**

This time John only leaned over, head in hands. His ears were a bright red and he was mumbling something inaudible. It was something along the lines of 'Why? What did I do to deserve this?' except it was much more colorful and explicit. Everyone around him continued to laugh, much to his growing embarrassment.

**The two have reached their hallway and are about to enter their respective rooms. They bid each other good night and Talia leaves. Liv spares a glance over her shoulder. A mysterious figure stands at the end of the hallway. He is a large man with a dark foreboding face. Liv, frightened by his presence, quickly shuts the door and locks it.**

**Outside of Liv's door we see the Occult Symbol the Eye of Horus carved into the wooden door. The lights in the hallway flicker ominously. Liv exits the bathroom, freshly showered. Her light bulb flickers out and she frowns. She jiggles the bulb until it is back on.**

**Outside Liv's apartment an unknown presence faces the occult symbol on the door. It looks down to see a line of salt across said door as well. The presence pivots 180 degrees to Talia's door as it is directly across from Liv's. It has no symbol or salt near it. The presence enters the door.**

"She's dead."

"Mick!"

"What?"

A collective face palm was heard.

**End Chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Non Est Asylum Part 3**

**Liv sleeps. A glaring spotlight passes over her face. She awakens and shields her eyes from the brightness of the light. She sits up. It turns out a helicopter is passing by for reasons unknown.**

**Liv, wearing a robe, opens the door to find the hallway busy with crime scene personnel. A young, black Assistant Medical Examiner with a friendly face pushes a collapsible gurney past her doorway and into Talia's apartment across the hall. At Talia's door, a Forensic Tech dusts the frame for prints.**

"How did she not awaken when the investigation first began?" Zed asked.

**"What's going on?" Liv asks as she steps closer to see what is happening.**

"Exactly what it looks like. A crime scene." Came Snart's drawling voice.

**Liv steps closer and peers into Talia's apartment in mounting horror to see a smear of blood on the wall and Talia's body on the ground below, head grotesquely twisted. The Assistant M.E. lowers the gurney to load the body. Liv freaks.**

"My God. Sickening." Stein exclaims, turning slightly green. A sound of someone heaving is heard behind the professor. No one looks back to see who. Their eyes are stuck to the screen, staring it horror at the gruesome depiction.

**"Talia! Oh my God, Talia…" She cries out as she sees her friend. She tries to enter the scene but a Homicide Detective physically guides her away and back into the hall. He uses his body to block her view of Talia's corpse.**

"Oh. Thank God." Kendra whispers, thankful that the scene was blocked. Carter puts an arm around her.

Renee leans up from the bucket that had randomly appeared at her sudden heaving. She agreed with Kendra on a large scale. All that had happened had proved her point. John was dangerous. Some color had begun to return to her. She was glad that whoever had brought them here had left their daughter at home. A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped in shock. She turned. She was semi surprised when she saw who was behind her.

"Are you alright?" Chas asks her quietly and she nods. He sends her an understanding look. Not everyone was cut out for his lifestyle.

**"You can't be here ma'am." He says sternly.**

**"I live across the hall. She's my friend. What happened?!" She exclaims. She resists the Detective's efforts to remove her but he finally prevails and escorts her to her door.**

**"Stay in your apartment. For your safety. We'll come talk to you." He says. **

**Liv steps back into her apartment. She is in tears. Her foot scuffs against something. She looks down to see the now disturbed salt line by her doorway. When live raises her head to walk inside, she sees the sign that had been carved into her door. With skyrocketing concern, she runs her hand over the symbol. Outside the Assistant M.E. slides the body bag into the back of his van and slams and locks the rear doors.**

**As the Assistant M.E. drives, he hears a dull thumping noise coming from the back of the van. He turns down the radio and does in fact hear the distinct thumping. Something was alive back there. He parks under a graffiti riddled underpass.**

"Why would you park underneath there? It's no doubt crawling with lawbreakers. This is just asking for trouble." Jax asks the screen.

"Something is alive in that van. The girl, Talia, must've somehow survived." Stein spoke to himself. John rolled his eyes. Nobody but Zed saw him. She sent the Exorcist a hidden glare.

**He hurries around the side and opens the back door. The body bag that held Talia's body had ripped free of its straps and was thrashing about. It was bashing against walls, throwing itself in the air, and rolling around among other things. The Assistant M.E. steps into the van.**

"And this is how a horror movie starts…" Sara states. She has somehow gotten popcorn.

**"Hold on! Hold still and I'll get you out of there!" he calls. At the sound of his voice, the body bag reacts and holds creepily still. The M.E. enters and begins to slowly unzip the bag. As he starts the electricity dies in the vehicle and plunges it into complete darkness. The M.E. fumbles to find the flashlight somewhere in the van. He finds it and switches it on. When he points it at the bag he sees that it is empty and unzipped. He turns and the flashlight beam falls directly on the supposedly dead Talia. She is right beside him. Her neck is broken and dangling sideways and she has milky white eyes. The man screams as she grabs his face. Dents appear in the sides of the van and screams follow. Suddenly silence falls.**

"And you're basically watching a horror movie as you see this right now. Trust me, it only gets worse." John says. He has taken to glaring at his shoes and cursing his luck. This show was revealing far too much about his past. Now it was showing more about those who died. Those whose deaths he had inadvertently caused when they stepped into his world.

**The next morning an Atlanta P.D. Sedan pulls into the lot. Liv exits it and waves thanks to the cop car which soon departs. She is still quite shaken at the events from the night before. As she heads to her office, she notices a certain Yellow Cab parked nearby. John leans against the hood. She approaches him.**

**"You always carpool with the cops?" John asks.**

**"It's been a long morning. My friend was killed last night." Liv answers. John adopts what could be considered a sympathetic look.**

**"I'm sorry to hear that. She wasn't the target." He says.**

"You could've phrased that better you know." Carter says.

**"Are you suggesting I'm the one who got Talia killed?" Liv says, shock the expression painted on her face and slight anger seeping into her voice.**

**"No, that would be impolite." He answers her accusation. He smiles. Liv only becomes more infuriated. She pulls out her phone and shows him a picture of the symbol on her door.**

"Seriously? Impolite? When has politeness ever stopped you from saying things?" Zed asked him. He shrugged.

**"I found this on my door. What is it?" She asks. Quite accusingly as well.**

**"The Eye of Horus. It's a symbol of protection. Or so they say." He answers calmly.**

**"Well, it didn't work. There was a man in my hallway last night. I think he killed Talia." She explained. John taps the cab roof behind him. The door opens. The tall man from the night before steps out. Liv shrinks back.**

"What? Why would I do such a thing?" The semi immortal man asked from where he sat by his wife.

**"Liv, meet Chas. My oldest mate. He didn't kill your friend. He made that carving that kept you safe." John explained. Chas returns to his seat as the driver and closes the door. John looks over at Liv.**

**"Not a big talker, that one. Now, down to business. If we don't get you somewhere safe, bodies will keep piling up." He explains.**

**"Why would anyone want me dead? I'm a nobody." Liv exclaims as she fights back the tear threatening to fall.**

**"Hate to burst your bubble, but you ain't a nobody. I knew your father, Jasper Winters." John explains once more.**

**"That's not possible. My dad died before I was born." Liv denied what Constantine was saying.**

**"Whoever told you that has been lying. Jasper died just last year. He was a good man, too." He corrected her as he reached into his trench coat to retrieve something. That something turned out to be a small velvet satchel. He holds it out to Liv who takes it. "Open this. It belonged to him."**

**Before Liv can open the satchel, the unmistakable roar of a car engine is heard. The turn and see the M.E. van speed straight towards the office. They are across the lot and are unable to do anything but watch as the van would inevitably crash into the office.**

**"No." Liv whispered as the van barrels through the glass windows and into the building. It disappears from view as it plows deeper into the open office space. John and Liv take off at a run towards the office. Chas follows them. They duck inside, careful of the glass in the area.**

**Those inside are checking on each other to make sure they were all safe. They were and nobody was hit by the vehicle. John marches down the path of destruction and is followed by Chas and Liv.**

**"Everyone out! It could blow!" John shouts before turning to Chas and whispering "Get 'em out.". Chas starts helping and herding people out. John reaches the van and finds it lodged in the desk that Liv should've been occupying. She sees and is filled with dread.**

"At least she wasn't sitting there. She would have been killed for sure."

"Thank you for stating the obvious Mr. Palmer." Rip replied to Ray.

"And this is what happens when you are near John Constantine." Renee announces.

**"That's my desk. I should've been sitting there."**

"But you weren't and that's what matters." Ray said. More than one person glared at him.

**"Whatever's after you can feel your energy. Can track it." John says as he looks around. Both of them pause as sounds come from the front of the van. **

**Strangled choking as well as an odd rhythmic slapping. Liv steps forward, but John grabs her ar. He cautiously lets of of her and peers forward. He seed Talia. She has been thrown through the front window. Her eyes still white and her neck still broken. The snapped neck results in her head dangling grotesquely to the side. This limits her vision so her hands blindly slap around for purchase against the glass. John hears a scream behind him. He turns.**

"Why do so few people listen to me? I tell her to stay back to spare her the view and what does she do? She looks anyways." John exasperatedly said. Chas had a hard time keeping a grin off of his face.

**"Talia! She's alive!" Liv all but screams as she steps forward and stares at Talia with shock.**

**"No. Something's using her. This is all wrong. They never operate in the open like his." John said to himself.**

**"I don't understand… what's happening?" Liv asks him as John leans in as close as he dared to Talia.**

**"Who are you?" He asked the demon infested corpse. Talia rotates her eyes to look at him. "Who sent you?" he asks again. The only response was Talia uttering a low pitched laugh. The laughter stops quite abruptly. Talia falls limp and the demon flees. All the desk lamps blow out, the Endeavor sign on the wall explodes, and the overhead fluorescents pop like fireworks all at once. John turns to see if Liv is ok. The only problem? She's nowhere to be seen. "Liv? Brilliant." He called out to her before realizing she had gone.**

"And she's gone."

"Thanks captain obvious. We all are totally blind and need someone to tell us when something happens." Snart glares at the mechanic.

**Liv was driving fast through a small neighborhood of houses. She breaks hard and turns into one of the driveways. She quickly parks and exits the car. She rushes to the front door and bursts in, extremely upset.**

**"Mom?" She calls out.**

**"Kitchen!" Her mother, Georgia Aberdine, calls to her. Liv enters the kitchen. Her mother sees her and greets her. "Liv, I'm glad you're here. I want to paper the guest bathro-" only to be cut off.**

**"When did my dad die?" She interrupted her mother as she entered. Georgia sees how upset her daughter is.**

**"What's wrong, honey? What happened?" She asks, concerned for her child.**

**"Answer the question." Liv spoke as she stood in front of her mother.**

**"He died a few months after you were conceived. You know that."**

**"Look me in the eyes and tell me again." Liv practically demanded. Georgia reluctantly met her eyes. "It's true. You've been lying."**

**"I'm not prepared to talk about this."**

**"You denied me a father my entire life. I don't care what you want right now. Who was he?" Liv exclaimed. Georgia had feared this day. She takes a deep breath.**

**"Just some boy I met at a concert. He didn't have any interest in seeing you after you were born. And Lord knows your Nana, rest her soul, and didn't encourage it-"**

**"But why would you lie about it?" Liv interrupted once more. Her eyes met her mother's.**

**"I wanted to protect you. You need to trust me on that, Liv."**

**"Trust you? Why would I ever trust you again?!" Liv asks in disbelief. Georgia starts crying, guilty but relieved.**

**"He left us and I knew he was never coming back. I just thought if he were dead you could still go on believing he loved you."**

**"Well he's dead now, so you can relax."**

**"How do you know?"**

**"A friend of his tracked me down."**

**"I don't see how. Jasper didn't even know where we live."**

**Liv reached into her pocket and removes the satchel. She dumps a primitive looking pendant into her hand. It was a tribal fusion of stone and metal and gems.**

"Is it really a smart idea to be waving that around in public? Even if it is in your own house, you shouldn't have it out unless absolutely necessary." Rip all but groans. This seemed to be a running theme with people. Always doing things that would cause a large amount of harm, even if it wasn't meant to.

**"The man I met said this belonged to him. Does it look familiar to you?" Liv asks as she lifts the pendant by its chain for her mother to see. She lets out a cry of astonishment and shock as the decrepit ghost of an old woman appeared. She had tendrils of black veins under parchment white skin. She stood behind Georgia and lovingly brushed her hair. Georgia, oblivious to the specter hovering behind her, looked at Liv with unmasked concern.**

"Holy Shit!"

"This really is turning into a horror film…"

"Why? Just why?"

"I'm about to get hit by a train."

Silence immediately takes over as John utters the last sentence. He looks around with a 'What?' look on his face. Those who have spent time with him roll their eyes.

**"What's the matter, baby?" She asked.**

"A lot…"

**"Nana?" Liv whispers in disbelief.**

**The gaunt and wretched figure raises her head towards her and reveals empty black hollows where the eye sockets should be. When she smiles a black liquid leaks from her mouth. Liv turns and runs. The woman is gone and Georgia rises to her feet.**

**"Liv? What's wrong? Liv!" She cries at the daughter in question. Liv is gone.**

"And this is why you don't hold magical items out in the open. Bad things will follow." Rip stated.

"At least someone gets what the words hands off means….."

"You're one to talk John."

"What's this about being hit by a train?" Sara breaks into the conversation.

**End Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Non Est Asylum Part 4**

**The rental car Liv drives tears away from the house. The tires squeal around corners. She drives blindly. She doesn't care where she is going. All that she knows is she must escape. She must flee. Tears start falling as her emotions overwhelm her. She wipes her eyes and sees through the windshield. A lone figure stands in the middle of the road at a railroad crossing.**

"Why on Earth would you choose to stand there of all places?" Stein asks John. He just shrugged and continued to stare at the TV.

**The rental car breaks hard. Its bumper is inches from Constantine. On the side of the road, Chas waits in the yellow cab. Liv exits her car and slams the door. She marches up to John to confront him about the events that were happening.**

_SMACK!_ Zed had slapped John hard across the face. John gave a shocked cry of pain and surprise. Zed left a red mark on the side of his face. He rubbed his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"What was that for? You could've died."

No reply

**"What's happening to me?"**

**"You're waking up. You're seeing the world for what it really is. Just like Jasper could."**

**"Which means what?!"**

**"Impatience. The psychic disease of the 21st century. Where's the pendant?" John sighed. Liv handed him the satchel and John removes the pendant. He puts it in her hand and clasps his around hers. She stares at their joined hands in fear. "Look around." John said.**

**"No."**

**"Do it." John said. Liv raised her head. She notices wispy dark shadows streaking across the gray sky as if they were dozens of shooting stars. They were traveling in all different directions.**

"Spooky." Mick stated. He really didn't think it was, he was just bored.

**"What are they?" She asked.**

**"Souls. Trapped. Searching for a way out." Was the answer given.**

**"Can you see them?"**

**"No. What else do you see?" He asks. Liv spins on the tracks. Her face filled with alarm at the sight of a train barreling at them.**

**"Look out! There's a train!" She cried out in fright.**

"You might want to get off the tracks." Carter said. He looked slightly concerned. Not because they were about to be run over but mostly for his mental health.

**"Is there?" John replied casually. Liv tried to turn and run but John held firmly onto her. She is facing the approaching train. She tries to pull free.**

"How are you so calm about this?" Jax asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" John asks back.

"How about the fact that you're about to be run over?"

**"What are you doing? Let me go! We have to get off the tracks! Let go!" she shouts. Too late. The train made impact. Instead of being run over, the train disappeared into a cloud of smoke. "What just happened?" Liv asks in confusion.**

"So that's what you meant…"

**"Ghost train. Derailment, probably. The more deaths involved, the more vivid the visions."**

"That's horrific to think about. That was pretty vivid." Stein said as that was said.

**"This is all impossible."**

**"Denying it won't make it go away."**

**"How come I can see these things?"**

**"You got your father's gift. When you touch his necklace, it focuses your ability to see what he saw. There are worlds beyond ours. Parallel planes of existence. Entities among us. Jasper could see 'em all. He tried to teach me, but I didn't have his knack." John explained her ability. For the first time, Liv saw that her dad meant something to John.**

**"So you to were… close?" She asked.**

**"We can talk later. Right now we're prey. Pull your car over. You're coming with us." He answers whilst avoiding the question. John turns to the cab. Liv remains where she stands.**

**"Not until you promise to tell me about my dad."**

**"Fine. I promise. But knowledge don't come cheap, luv. Sometimes the price can be astronomical." John accepts her terms and, with that they turned to leave.**

**The cab drives along a densely tree lined highway. Liv sits in the backseat. She is lost in thought, staring out the window at passing trees. John as nodded off. Chas is driving. 'The Ring of Fire plays on the radio'. **

"Oh, I'm a fan of this song!" Ray exclaims. He hums the tune. That is, until Mic growled at him. Slightly nervous for his life, the inventor stopped.

**"John was going to tell me about Jasper. I want to know how he died." She asked Chas.**

**"Bravely." Came the driver's one worded reply.**

**"Were you there?"**

**"That'll be enough of that." John interrupts. His eyes are still closed.**

**"I was just thinking, whatever's after me, maybe it wants revenge for something my father did."**

**"I'm not concerned with the why. I just want to send it packing, square my debt with your dad, and be done." John reveals what he currently desires to happen. Abruptly, the song on the radio starts cutting out. Chas tries to tune the song back but only finds more sharp static. It was almost like a jagged Bluetooth. John shoots forward in alarm.**

**"Where are we going anyway?" Liv asks. John glances out the front windshield at a fast approaching stoplight. It's green. As the cab nears the intersection it flickers between red and green. It explodes.**

**"Chas!" John called out. He tried to warn his friend. Too late. A semi-truck hits the cab. This sends the cab flying. When it lands, John is no longer in reality. He is in a memory.**

"Not this. Please, anything but this." John whispers under his breath. Even though much time has passed, this even still caused a terrible reaction when thought about. Chas once more moves from his spot by Renee back to John. He is visibly shaking. All who were not present when said memory had taken place looked at the man in confusion and slight concern. John had, in his own weird way, begun to grow on them, if only a little bit.

**John, on a knee, faces a terrified young girl. Astra. She is wearing a pajama gown. She is crying in fear as she stares over John's shoulder. Her eyes desperately searching the dark for something.**

Not a sound is uttered from those present. They all stare at the screen.

**"…it's following me… make it go away…please…" She cries out as she holds on to John.**

**"Come here. I got you." John whispered as he reached out.**

**John took Astra into his arms and holds her tight. She buries her face in his neck. She glances behind him and lets out a scream. John turns as well. The silhouette of a demonic figure steps into view. Primal. Inhuman. Backlit. John fiercely pulls Astra closer to protect her.**

**"You can't have her!" John yells at the figure as he holds onto her. His voice breaks slightly as the demon nears. Not tight enough it seems as the demon pulls Astra away. He calls out her name.**

**"John! Get me out of here!" She cries before fading off into silence.**

The show pauses even though nobody had spoken. The audience looked around at each other, back to the TV, then to each other again. They were all thinking the same thing. They didn't know much about John. Only what the show had explained. But they still felt sick to their stomach after the scene. Astra's fearful cries. John's desperate attempts to save her. It was enough to drive a man mad. If it was this bad just seeing it on a TV screen, they couldn't fathom how it would've been like should they have been there.

**John awakens from the memory and finds himself thrown from the cab. Thunder clouds form. John looks to the intersection. The cab lies on its roof. Liv struggles to escape the backseat while Chas groggily comes to in the front. John rises to see a power line spraying a waterfall of sparks. The threat to set the cab ablaze is very real. John runs to the cab. He crawls into the backseat to help Liv free her foot, which was lodged under the front seat that Chas occupied.**

**"My foot's jammed under." She relays her condition to John.**

**"Keep your hair on." John acknowledges that he heard her. He was still a bit out of it from the crash.**

**The power line explodes. One end of the power line falls to the ground with a thud. It starts snaking its way towards the cab.**

"Well, this isn't good."

**"You gotta cut her free, mate." John calls to Chas.**

**"No problem." Chas replies.**

**"Wait!" Liv stopped him. The reason soon became clear. The power line hovers outside the passenger window. It tries to find a way inside. "Don't touch any metal. Neither of you." the power line hits the window harder. "Do something!" she calls to John as he had gotten out of the cab. He heard her call and raised his hand to the power line.**

"No. Go touch the metal. It'll be perfectly safe…" Snart say as he looks up from the ground to the TV. Sarcastically of course.

**"The sacred cross commands you! The Star of David commands you! The Omkar, the Lotus, and the Shahada command you! Flee this place! _Disperges in Ventum_!" He cried out. The power line fell to the ground and fizzled out. "I think I got it."**

"How magic is used. It's simply astoni…" Stein begins before being cut off.

"Shing." The assassin and mechanic finish his sentence.

**Chas throws a shoulder into his dented door. It flies open and he climbs out. He pulls open Liv's door. The Power line lay dead near his feet. Chas cuts Liv's foot loose with his knife. She tumbles free.**

"Good. She has escaped. Hope they're not too far away from wherever, speaking as you've got no mode of transportation."

"Brilliant deduction Mr. Palmer. I believe you will get your answer soon enough if you refrain from speaking too much." Rip replies.

John and those who had been to the Mill House share a look.

**"Hurry now, luv." John tells Liv as he helps her out. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes. The power line rises behind Chas. "Chas!" he tried to warn him. He never finished though as the power line punched straight through Chas' chest.**

"How are you still alive?" Rip asks Chas. The man in question shrugs.

"Spoilers…" He said.

**"No." Liv mumbles. John keeps a hold on her.**

**"Come on! We can't help him! If we stay, we'll all die." He tells her as he drags her away. They take off at a run.**

**End Chapter**


	6. Chapter 6

**I heartily thank Vumanchu for helping write this story. Thanks!**

**The remaining two hike through the trees until they reach an old cobblestone water mill. A pick-up truck sits beside it. The vehicle shows signs of extreme use. It is extremely battered. John is tired and visibly shaken after their ordeal.**

**"We'll be safe here." He says as he places a hand on her shoulder. She pulls away, angry at him.**

**"Are you kidding me? After what just happened to Chas? No one's safe around you!" she all but yells. He stiffens and tries his best to brush off her words. It is obvious that her words hurt him.**

"I can never get used to seeing you like this Chas…" Renee commented.

"I know, but John needs me—"

"I know that, but I wished you didn't"

Anna Marie looked over at John. "She got you all in one." She stated.

"At least he's trying to keep her safe!" Ray objected to her statement.

**"Not all things are what they appear. If you want to make it out of this alive, you need to understand that." He says as they walk forward.**

**"I don't understand half of what you're talking about. Do you ever say anything clearly?" She asks. She is fed up with John at the moment, and for good reason.**

"No."

**"This house belonged to your father. If this day ever came, I promised him I'd put these keys in your hand." He says as he tosses her a ring of keys. "Is that clear enough for you?" She goes quiet and Jon waits patiently for her to open the door. They enter.**

**"Jasper stayed here now and then to watch over you, but he had to keep his distance. For your safety, naturally." He says as she looks around.**

**"There's nothing natural about this." She replies as they descend into a massive stonewalled cavern via spiraled staircase. It is full of many magical treasures. Liv slowly relaxes. "This is insane. You could survive an apocalypse down here."**

**"Or start one. Jasper used this place for divination. No one could find trouble faster than your dad. Literally." John explains as he retrieves a leather bound book. He looks to Liv who is picking up a golden helmet. "I'd put that down, luv, before it puts you down."**

Mick pointed towards the helm "See that Partner?"

Snart nodded "I see a lot of things Mick, but I know what you're thinking. The question is, how much do you think it'll be worth and how do we find it?"

"I swear, if you two idiots even think about trying to break in-" John sets his hands ablaze, clearly emphasizing his point.

Ray, Jax, and Stein immidetly start to protest against the idea the two thieves are thinking about whist Chas only chuckles. It was always fun, seeing peoples reactions.

**"This looks like a map of Atlanta, but what's with these locations? Illusion Falls? Phantom Hill?" She asks as she moves over to a drafting table.**

**"Jasper taught himself cartography. Started drawing his own maps, based on what he saw."**

**"You said he could 'find trouble.'"**

**"It's called scrying. Hold your pendant over a map. You'll see." John instructs. He then begins searching through the book to find something. "Ah, here it is, found the demon after you. Goes by the name Furcifer. The bloody angel was right. The stakes are rising."**

**Liv glances up as he says this. "What angel?"**

**"Ah ah. Eyes on the map." He says without looking up. He shows signs of worry. "Furcifer draws strength from electricity. It can manifest lightning and tempests. That's how it can control power lines, even dead bodies."**

"Wait, Furcifer? Are you sure you didn't read that wrong?" Jax asked as he and the others began to laugh. Well, everyone except John, Rip, and Chas.

**"I still don't understand why it wants me."**

**"Now that you can see these things, they can see you. And some of them don't like to be seen. Taking you out is preemptive." He answers her question. She realizes the terrible reality that has set in. John tries to extend his sympathy. "Sorry. No point in trying to sugarcoat it anymore."**

"That was blunt." Sara frowned. Straight out saying that wouldn't help things at all.

**Liv turns back to the map. A pinpoint of blood forms in the middle. It spreads wider and drips down onto the map below.**

**"Oh my God. What is that?" She asks. She is scared.**

**"What you asked for. Trouble. Where did the blood form?"**

**"Edgewood Avenue. So what, like, something bad is happening there?"**

**"Will happen."**

**"We should warn someone."**

**"Not exactly a system in place for that, is there?"**

**"We have to do something!"**

**"We are. We're keeping you alive. I've got an idea to cut your attacker down to size, but it will mean using you as bait."**

"No!"

"What the hell!"

"You can't be serious!"

"Yes, I was. I didn't want to but it was the only way." John answered.

**"Why do I get the feeling that you've already been doing that?"**

**"Clever girl. I've got a contact at Ivy University who might help us. Just sit tight till I get back.**

**"What if that thing shows up again?"**

**"Your father took care of that. This place is a spiritual safe house. It's loaded with ritual protections. Stay inside and you'll be fine." He assures her before heading out. Liv is left alone.**

"And this is exactly what I meant." Anna Marie glared at him. It was exactly like him.

**John is outside in the old truck seen before. He waits at a security gate for the security guard to check the ID of the car ahead. When John finally reaches the gate, the guard steps forward. John realizes that the guard is now Manny. John is less than pleased to see the angel again.**

**"You know, it's a fine line between 'watching over' and 'stalking.'" He tells the angel.**

**"I was right, wasn't I? It's heating up down here." Manny replies. John gives an exasperated sigh.**

"Stuck up arse." John commented as Manny appeared in the screen.

**"Could you open the gate, please? I've got time pressures."**

**Manny says nothing as he closes his eyes. He lifts his head and the rain has stopped. The falling drops are suspended in midair. Time is frozen. Not a thing moves. There is no sound.**

"Now that is a neat trick." Rip says, mostly to himself as he leans forward. John rolls his eyes at the reaction the audience had.

**John exits the vehicle and waves a hand in the air. The water droplets that hit his hand melt instantly and leave a trail clear through the rain. "Well this is new." He says to himself.**

**"Did you find out what's hunting the girl?"**

**"A demon from the inner circle."**

"A demon with a laughable name more like." Snart said. No attention was paid to his comment.

**"A thing like that can't make its way here without serious help."**

**"Last night, you said somethings coming. I talked with a colleague with bad dreams who agrees with you."**

**"Did he say what it was?"**

**"He doesn't know. Neither do you. I thought you cloud-huggers had all the answers."**

"You're calling an angel a cloud hugger? That seems more than a little bit dangerous." Stein turned and asked John. He shrugged.

**"No. We're observers."**

"A bit like the Time Masters Counsul then…"

**"Like hell, mate. Feels like you want me to find out information."**

**"I do."**

**"Why?"**

**"I've been here from the beginning, John. Of time. We were put here to guide the development of the human spirit. You know how? With an unseen hand on the shoulder. A whisper in the wind. Not the most effective tools."**

**"So you've taken matters into your own hands. Slippery slope there, chum. That's how the First of the Fallen made his name."**

"A bit like you Rip."

**"Different agendas. If you figure out what we're looking for, I'll use that knowledge to save lives."**

**"And what about my life? You and yours damned me to hell. Why should I risk my last days on earth?"**

"I agree." Mick said. Que the looks of shock around the pyromaniac.

**"Why indeed. You're a sideshow attraction. A peddler of shabby magic."**

**"Now wait a minute…"**

**"Your decisions are questionable at best, and without conscience at worst. Why should you risk what time you have left? Because you are damned to hell, Constantine. For the moment anyway."**

**"Are you suggesting it's not too late to save my soul?" He asks. Rain starts falling again. He looks up and the guard is looking at him.**

**"You all right, sir?" he asks.**

**"No. Not even slightly." John replies. He is deep in thought. Did he still have a chance? He stands unsteady and once more shaken in the downpour.**

**End Chapter**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 8: Non Est Asylum Part 7**

**John is counting out a number of hundred dollar bills and hands them to a large guard.**

**"Three hundred, four hundred, five hundred dollars." He says as when he hands the money to the guard.**

**"Just to have sex on a rooftop?"**

"That's your excuse?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

**"It's a fetish thing." John replies as he looks up to a multi-level parking garage. As he says this Liv head snaps around. She sends a glare at him.**

"Now that is just disgusting!" Kendra exclaimed. She looked slightly green.

"I agree. You really should've thought of a better excuse." This came from Anna Marie.

**"Save it. I don't want to know." The guard says as he shakes his head.**

**"One more vital detail. There's an extra hundred in it for you if you keep this by your side." John hands him a lightbulb. "If it glows, call me immediately."**

**"It's not screwed into anything…"**

**"Just keep an eye on it and call me. You have my cell phone number." John ends the conversation, hoists his bag, and heads for the parking lot.**

**They soon reach the top. John starts painting a curious symbol on the concrete roof.**

**"What is it?" Liv asks as she watches with interest.**

**"Demon Seal."**

**"You get that off the internet?"**

**"No. This one's a proprietary design. Triangle of Solomon with some Elder Runes and Enochian Script. If Furcifer wants you, it'll have to enter the circle and then I can order it to hell." He explains the design as he finishes the final stroke. He places the brush aside. "This should do it. Time to step into the circle." She does as asked. "I know you're scared, luv. But we have to do this. We won't make it to sunrise if you don't."**

"Ominous."

"Should? Should!"

**"What about you? Are you scared?"**

**"Every time." John assures her. He holds out a hand. It is the moment of both truth. Truth and trust. Liv takes a deep breath and steps over the line and into the Seal. **

**Unbeknownst to them, the guard below is unaware of the danger near him. His phone glitches. He tries to restore it. The bulb behind him begins to glow.**

**Above on the roof, the two sit. Liv looks at her protector curiously. "Where do you come from, John?"**

**"The sordid passions of my parents."**

"This may not be the time to say it, but that was actually quite humorous." Sara said, fighting a smile.

**"You do that a lot, you know."**

**"What's that?"**

**"Deflect emotions with humor."**

**"Do I."**

**"C'mon, John. I'm trusting you with my life here. The least you can do is share one small personal detail."**

**"My mom died giving birth to me."**

**"Or one big detail. I'm sorry." She whispers back, regretting asking him.**

Those who didn't know felt awkward at the revelation. What they were learning was extremely personal.

**"My dad said it was my fault. He had a nickname for me. I heard it every day. "Hey there, Killer." And after a night at the pub, which was every night, he'd punch my head and say, "That's what you get for what you did to your mom, Killer." He said.**

"I'm sorry." A whisper came. John didn't reply.

**"That's awful. Do you ever wonder sometimes? What your mom was like?"**

**"No point in wondering. I'm going to find her. When I was a teenager, I started reading every book I could find on the occult. Taught myself spells, rituals, curses. I had a knack for it. Learned to conjure all kinds of dead things. Just not her. Not yet." The conversation is cut short as lights flicker. Both rise to their feet. "Get ready." They hear steps from behind as the guard enters. John sighs. "I told you to call my cell phone."**

**"You really don't want to be here right now." Liv calls out to the man. He just stands there. **

**John gets a closer look. "Oh yes he does. That's not the guard." The guard stands there. Liv grasps her pendant. The guard is actually the demon Furcifer. It grins. "Steady Liv." He called to her before addressing the demon guard. "You want here? Go get her, chief."**

"All part of the plan."

**"If you insist." The demon steps into the seal to Liv's horror. John, who has been near the electrical panel, flips it off. The roof lights die and he launches into an intense chanting to dispatch the demon. It doubles over in pain.**

**"_Furcifer de hoc mundo exisse… De nomine Dei iuberis… De hoc mundo exisse in nomine Dei iuberis."_ He chants. **

**Within the smoke the demon laughs. It straightens up. He has taken John's form. He has pitch black eyes. The demon John looks at the living one with an amused expression. "Nergal said your rituals lack the power of intention. How does it feel, Constantine, to lock eyes with your future?" It asks.**

"Creepy. I prefer the living version of you."

"As do I. As do I."

**"It's a little unsettling, to be honest. Not my best look."**

**"Only a question of time before you belong to us."**

**"Hell must be short on souls if you're bothering with a sorry one like mine."**

**"On the contrary, we count on you to provide a fresh supply." Furcifer said. He turned to look at Liv "Tonight it's your turn." He raises his hand and an arc of energy appears from the panel. The lights around him are restored.**

"That hurts."

**"Liv, run!" John shouts to his companion. She doesn't need telling twice. She turns but cords snap to life and bind her.**

"And this is the point in time where she'd be electrocuted."

**"John!"**

**"Your arrogance has brought me to the heart of a city at night, you fool." Demon John says as he raises his hands. An electrical storm has formed over the city and lightening races across the sky in a dazzling display. Lightning flashes across the sky. "In this place, I'm God."**

"Overconfident much?"

**"That reminds me. Almost forgot." John picks up a flare gun that had, before this moment, been hidden. He aims it and fires the flare.**

**The flare flies. Ritchie looks up and sees it. "Hope this works, John." He says as he opens his laptop. He enters a string of command codes. The lights of Atlanta blink out. Entire power grids go dark, one by one. The lightning storm dies and Demon John looks around in confusion.**

**"What's this?" Furcifer exclaims.**

**"The power of intention." John pulls out a match and lights it. He drops it onto the seal. Due to the flammable nature of the paint, it catches and spreads into a fiery circle. The cords that had held Liv loosen, allowing her to dive out of it. **

**Demon John steps forward. Unexpectedly, Astra steps from behind. She is dressed in powder blue pajamas. She begins to move forward to get to John. Demon John roughly grabs her shoulders to prevent her reaching him**

"Don't fall for it, Constantine."

**"John, is that you?" Astra calls out. John is struck speechless in disbelief.**

**"Astra…" John breathes.**

**"John!" She cries out as she steps forward. Demon John holds onto her. The mere sight of Astra sets John emotionally adrift. "Get me out, John. Please." She is sobbing now. "Please get me out of here…"**

**"Did you hear that? The girl's in pain. Are you really going to fail her again?" The demon asks. He wraps an arm around Astra in a mockery of the embrace John had given her. "Release me and her soul is free."**

**"_Audite me, libera daemonium…_" Joh chants.**

**Liv looks at Astra, only she's not Astra. A devilish imp with a mischievous and cunning grin. "John! Stop! That's not Astra. It's not her!" She calls in warning.**

**John stops chanting. He turns to Demon John. "You think you can mess with my life? I got news for you, mate. I'm coming for Astra. And then I'm coming for Nergal. You pass that along… in hell! _Per judicem vivorum et mortuorum! Se denim mundi Creator! Qui habet potestatem mittere in infernum! Ut abire ex regno protinus!_" He finished chanting. Furcifer and the imp go up in flames. The two flames spiral up into the sky until they extinguish abruptly. John sits with his back to the wall, a haunted look present.**

**"Are you okay?" Liv asked, concerned for her father's friend.**

**"I have a colleague down there, he'll drive you home." He tells her. "Go." His voice breaks. He turns his back to her. She leaves.**

"I don't think it's such a good idea for you to be alone right now."

**"Who's Astra?" Liv asks as Ritchie drives her home.**

**"She was the daughter of a friends of ours in Newcastle. England. A demon possessed her. So John, he decided to conjure a more powerful demon."**

**"Nergal."**

"What's up with demons and stupid names?"

**"He said he'd order it drag the lesser demon away."**

"It's a demon, of course it's not going to listen to you."

"Thanks for your opinion. I'm well aware of that now.

**"But it took Astra instead."**

**"After tearing her apart in front of us. John believes he has every situation under control. And he makes you believe. That's his magic. And his curse. Stay away from him, Liv." Ritchie warns her. She looks out of the window and her eyes widen.**

**"Hey, this is Edgewood Avenue. John taught me how to scry today and this street came up on the map. Stop." They stop and Liv steps out.**

**"Let go! Let go of me! Who did this? What kind of monster would do this to a boy?" A grieving mother cries out. A dead body, her son, is laid out on the sidewalk. His throat is torn out. Seeing this, Liv feels her sorrow turn to anger. She returns to Ritchie.**

"A demon."

"We know, Snart."

"I'm just saying…"

"There's a time and a place for everything. This is not it."

**John is sitting at the pub. He and the Bartender were speaking. Chas enters and makes his way over to the two.**

**"Chas, just in time to settle a bet. Most influential band. Barkeep credits The Ramones for the music, fair enough, but The Pistols. The Pistols were dangerous." The drunken man speaks.**

**"Liv stopped by the Mill House to grab her bags. Said something about a cousin in California. She isn't coming back, John." Chas laid the pendant down on the bar counter.**

"Good. At least some of us have some common sense." Zed says. Her tone was joking but she was dead serious.

**"Suppose we're not all cut from the same cloth." John picks up the pendant. He closes his eyes, relieved.**

**"Is she safe out there?"**

**"She will be. With Furcifer gone, I can put a cloaking spell on her." He says as he pockets the pendant.**

**"Liv spent an hour in the map room before she left. Scrying like you taught her. Look, it's happening everywhere…" Chas unfolds the map of the US. Hundreds of blood droplets are dried on it. Even John is surprised. "She wants you to keep fighting. Sounded a lot like her father when she said it, too."**

**"Did she now?" He asks. He raises his now empty cup. Chas takes it and puts it down.**

**"Maybe you'll never be able to forgive yourself for what happened to Astra, but if you want to give her loss some meaning" Chas points at the map "then do something." He takes the map and leaves.**

**"Interesting coincidence. Ritchie had to drive 20 blocks out of his way to pass Edgewood Avenue and stumble onto the crime scene." The bartender, now Manny, comments as he puts a fresh pint in front of him.**

**"He made me pay for gas." John replies.**

Small chuckles escape from a portion of the audience.

**"You scared her away."**

**"Kind of the point."**

**"You're failing to grasp the stakes here, John. The darkness is rising around us. Liv's power is valuable—"**

**John snaps "So is her life! If Liv was going to join our fight, she had to see the risks for herself." He calms himself down before continuing. "All I did was give her a choice. It's more than Astra ever had."**

"You do care. Huh."

**"You said 'our' fight. Does that mean you're going to help us?"**

"What do you think, damn angel."

**"It's what you wanted, isn't it? And you call me a con man. Pick up the tab, would ya? You bastards are going to owe me." He pushes the pint away and stumbles out the door. **

**John walks down a street. From off-screen we hear him talk. "My name is John Constantine. I am the one who steps from the shadows, all trench coat and arrogance. I'll drive your demons away, kick 'em in the bollocks and spit on them when they're down, leaving only a nod and a wink and a wisecrack." He stops as multiple thugs surround him. "I walk my path alone because, let's be honest…" As the men raise their guns, looks around. In one small motion he raises both hands. They are engulfed in flames. "Who would be crazy enough to walk it with me?"**

**The scene turns to a drawing as an unknown artist sketches it. She is surrounded by many other pictures of the man.**

"Lots of people it would seem."

**End Chapter**

**A/N: Phew. Episode 1 is done. It only took five chapters and 40 pages on Word… 12 more to go, not counting LoT. Also, I give hearty thanks to Vumanchu for aiding in the writing of the story. Anyways, as always, hope you enjoyed it and keep watch for next update. Have a good day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Meeting**

**Again, a big thanks to Vumanchu**

"Lots of people it would seem." Remarked a man from right behind the watchers. The two groups turned around, startled by the sudden appearance of the two individuals before them.

One leaned against the wall whilst the other stands, hands behind his back and feet slightly apart, at ease. The first young man, most likely within his early twenties, pushed himself off of the wall. He had slightly tanned skin and dirty blond hair. It looked extremely bedraggled as if he had just rolled out of bed, which wasn't too far from to truth. He wasn't skinny but he wasn't muscular either. He wore a dark green long sleeved shirt; dark brown, almost black, pants; a leather chest piece; and a single black glove with a picture of a howling wolf messily stitched into it. On his belt hung a sheathed short sword.

The second man, older than the first, was sickly pale and thin in stature. He wore a khaki service, wear and tear evidently seen by the dirt, mud, and dust it had collected. The more perceptive of them would have spied the dried blood plastered like paint on the canvas of his uniform. The once pristine brown boots were scuffed and in need of a good shining. His helmet had long since lost its green paint, leaving only a dusty tan in its wake. The chin strap was nowhere to be seen. Strapped to his 1908 Pattern Webbing with all off the associated pouches and tools to fight the Great War. What shocked the two groups the most were his eyes and face, or rather, lack of thereof. Soot replaced where his eyes should have been and half of his face was covered by chemical burns.

"Who the hell are you?" Mick growled, reaching for his heat gun that was never there.

"That's right. I may have confiscated your weapons." The first says, itching the back of his head. Everyone in possession of a weapon checked only to find them missing.

"You never answered Mr. Rory's question. Who exactly are you?" Doctor Stein demanded, still awaiting his answer.

The first man cheered, "Right you are Professor! I'm Wulfstan."

"And your friend?" Rip inquired, pointing out the man in uniform.

Said individual grumbled, "Corporal Jason. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 3rd Division." He blankly bit his lip, reluctantly adding, "Formerly."

Zed wondered, "Formerly?"

"I'm supposed to be dead." Deadpanned Jason, eyes narrowing at them.

Ray stated, quite plainly, "But you're not."

"Brilliant observation. Pure genius." Wulfstan broke in with slow clapping.

"If you don't mind me asking, why the hell are we here? Some of us got some important things to do, yeah?" Constantine continued as if the man had not spoken.

"I actually have the exact same question." Jason looked over at Wulfstan, a little annoyed that he found himself a part of his antics.

"So, what do you want to know first?" Wulfstan asked, ignoring both the soldier and the Warlock, happily taking a seat. Both groups quickly gathered together before coming to a conclusion of what needs to be said.

"Who, or what in this case, are you exactly? Even the Time Master's don't have this type of power." Rip asked, chosen to be the front man seeing as Constantine was obviously ill-suited and Ray was too 'timid'.

"Well, we aren't exactly the same but I can try to explain. I'll admit, even I don't completely understand the whole thing but here's the best explanation I can give." Wulfstan began. He said this slowly as if trying to find the best way to tell. "We're sort of like omnipresent beings. You see, I used to be a hunter. That is, until an untimely death at the hands of a rival. Quite unfortunate if you ask me. Let's just say that I got my revenge later. There's not much about me. I can alter certain things in people's lives. One could consider me a minor protection deity."

Wulfstan looked over to Jason. "You want to do the honors of explaining your own past?" Jason's eye twitched, almost ready to throttle the other. Wulfstan shrugged and quietly encouraged him to speak up.

Jason grumbled, "Fine. Officially, I died on November 7, 1917 at Passchendaele. Artillery got a beat on our position and blew us to kingdom come they did. Funny thing about me, whatever the reason why, my soul didn't quite get to Heaven. Actually, I'm stuck on Earth and I can feel everything. The factories of war creating new guns irritate my eyes. My face stings because some bastard keeps using chemical weapons on innocents. My body aches in pain, sorrow, pity, and sadness every time some kid comes across and finds his family dead. I feel all the Horrors of War and I can't do anything but watch."

"So, that's why you look like that?" asked Constantine rather nonchalantly.

Jason's eyes twitched. Out of nowhere, the old SMLE Mk III* rifle was in his hands and ready to fire.

Wulfstan pushed the rifle down and held Jason back with a slightly nervous chuckle, "He's just joking!"

"No, I wasn't" Constantine corrected. Wulfstan made a flurry of small motions that screamed 'cut-do-not-continue-this-chain-of-conversation'. Thankfully, the point was understood.

"Moving on." Rip interrupted, bringing the conversation back to its original purpose. "Why are we here and what do you want?"

Wulfstan rubbed his hands together after relinquishing the grasp he had on his companion. "Simple, to watch you respective shows."

"That can't be the only reason." Constantine broke in once more.

"It's, for a greater purpose..."

Jason remembered the day that he had been dragged into this situation Wulfstan had created. The way he said that seemed suspicious. Of course, that went along with how the two met. He had in fact said there was a greater purpose to doing this.

_"Excuse me, yeah, you." A young man came jogging up to him. Jason examined him._

_"Who exactly are you and what do you want?"_

_"Wulfstan for the first question. As for the second question, I'm offering you the chance to help save the world and timeline." The man looked expectedly at the soldier._

_It wasn't like he had anything else to do except watch the death of millions. "Okay then. What do we need to do?"_

_"Great. Here's the plan…"_

Jason brought himself back to the conversation taking place.

"That's your reasoning? It's for a greater purpose? Care to expand that?"

"It'll save the timeline. Or rip it to shreds… Besides, trust between companions is important. You don't want to team up with someone who could stab you in the back right?" Rip paled at the thought of the timeline being shredded. Wulfstan sent him a 'comforting' grin. It certainly didn't do what it was meant to.

Jason looked at his companion.

Various members of the audience continued to ask a few more questions and Wulfstan answered.

Rip, who had managed to shake himself out of his paralyzed state. He still looked slightly pale at time being shredded. He did see the logic in the plan the man had made. Of course, capturing them all and depositing them in an unknown location probably wasn't the best way to go about it. Just the act of having them all meet before time dictated it be so was most likely to wreak havoc of its own now that he thought about it. His thoughts were interrupted as the TV started up again and started to play.

**End Chapter**

**A/N: I once again thank Vumanchu for helping write this as well as allowing the use of the OC Jason.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Darkness beneath Part 1**

**A/N: I may try a different format here…**

**A small, isolated coal-mining town nestled in a rich green valley. Bone-weary miners covered in coal dust trudge home. The back door bangs opens and Lannis Cadogan, enters. Lannis' huge dinner sizzles in various skillets and pots. Lannis grabs his whiskey bottle, pours a tall one.**

"A bit like you."

"Careful Weasel…"

**"Bad day?" His wife, Beth, asks. He ignores her and has another glass. "Lannis?"**

**"Three more on my shift threatened to quit today. Candy asses."**

**"They still hearing the sounds?"**

**"Don't you start in, to. They put me in charge of a bunch of Johnny Newcomes. Barely old enough to shave. There's nothin' down in that mine for 'em to hear."**

"Are you certain?" Constantine asked as if he were mocking the man on the screen.

**"Why don't you go on and get yourself cleaned up. I'll have your dinner ready when you come out."**

**"I'm hungry now."**

**"It's not ready."**

**Lannis stares at her. Beth doesn't move. Lannis swipes the whole bottle and exits towards the bathroom. Lannis' clothes fall to the floor. Lannis drains his glass. Looks at himself in the mirror. He turns on the water.**

"Something's going to happen and it's not going to turn out well for him."

**Lannis steps into the shower of opaque glass. He sticks his head under the stream and lets the steaming water work on his tense muscles. Because his eyes are closed, he doesn't when notice the water from the nozzle turns completely black. After a beat, he pulls his head out, opens his eyes, and sees the thick black water covering him, also spraying from the nozzle. As he watches, however, the black water sputters and ceases flowing.**

"Ugh. Disgusting. You'd think he'd figure out that it wasn't water the second it changed. The two can't feel the same."

"I'd be less worried about the water changing and more about the fact that it has _stopped flowing_."

**Lannis turns to exit the shower, but the door won't open. Behind him, Lannis hears a distant metal clank or two from deep within the plumbing. He turns back to the shower head and leans closer to assess the problem. As he stares up a gush of red-orange flames shoots from the nozzle, right into his face. Lannis screams in agony. From outside the shower door, we see the haunting image of a naked man being sprayed with fire behind the opaque shower glass.**

Mick had a pleased expression. A few of the watchers scooted away.

**John sits in the Mill House. He whisks through a very impressive display of playing cards wizardry. Cards disappear, reappear, change suits in the blink of an eye. John sits with his feet up on his ratty suitcase. Bored, waiting. He sits upstairs near the old mill gears. Chas comes down the entry stairs and joins him.**

**"Working on your skills?"**

**"Just one. Patience. What the bloody hell took you?"**

"Patience? John Constantine? Now those are two words you'd rarely hear together, unless it's about your lack of it."

"At times!"

Zed just looked at him, as if daring him to prove his defense.

**"Had to stay till the daily double. It was your only pick that paid off." Chas tosses John a thick envelope with a stack of cash.**

**"Capnomancy isn't an exact magic. Divining the future through the movement of rising smoke is tricky business."**

**"I would think you'd be an expert." Chas replies as John rises to his feet.**

**"Saddle up. We're flying to Pennsylvania. Look at the map." John says as he looks at the map.**

**Chas steps to peer at the scry map. A closer look reveals one wet drop of blood in Pennsylvania among all the dry ones. "One of the drops is wet."**

**"Seems that Liv's danger map has some unique properties, eh? Our destination is the tiny town of Heddwich. According to local papers, a mining boss was just flash-fried in his shower."**

**"You're on your own." Chas speaks. John sends a questioning look at him. "Pennsylvania? The succubus on a freight train?"**

"Wait, what's this about a freight train?"

**"That warrant's still active?"**

**"Funny what a long memory the law has when it comes to train derailments. But I'm willing to risk it."**

"I think I've heard about that accident…"

**"You've risked enough, mate. Here's tomorrow's picks. Knock yourself out." John hands Chas a Racing Form and heads out with his bag.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The Darkness beneath Part 2**

**AN: So sorry this took so long… I'm leaving who says what up for you to decide. Well most of it anyway…**

**An artist is drawing with charcoal, with some intensity, an impressionistic rendering of John Constantine. His expression quiet and contemplative.**

"That is quite good Zed. Where'd you learn to draw like that?"

"I didn't learn, it comes naturally."

"Either way, it is _very_ good."

**John walks down the sidewalk of a small main street. He has the same expression on his face as the picture. John takes in a town that's barely holding on. Shops are closed and boarded up. Grim faces on those around.**

"Depressing place." Sara notes.

"Nowhere to rob…" Mick grunts as he leaned back. Snart rolled his eyes at his partner.

**The artist continues to draw John, filling out his body, which is walking, backlit by rising sun. The artist is revealed, dressed in a long man's shirt and shorts. Seated on a stool. We're seeing her fully for the first time. Her name is Zed Martin, mid-20s, Latina, a face full of spirit and intelligence and innate curiosity. She's drawing almost by compulsion.**

**John continues down the sidewalk and slows down, because headed his way he sees a casket, carried by a cluster of miners. They move somberly down the middle of the street.**

**It's a perfect John Constantine image and a very close match to Zed's drawing, further along now. It's a charcoal rendering of the same scene of Constantine staring at a casket passing in front of him. There's no distinct background, just John, a casket, and mourners. Zed pauses. Considers the drawing, addresses the image of John in her drawing. "You're really starting to piss me off…" She speaks to the image. She takes it and a number of other drawings and leaves the room.**

"John does that to a lot of people."

**John curiously follows the casket procession, hanging back a respectful distance. John watches the mourners carry the casket into the door of a pub ahead. He picks up his step to join them, when a door in front of him bursts open and John collides with Zed, knocking the heavy bag out of her hands, spilling trash around them. John rubs his scalp, semi-obscuring his face. Zed kneels to gather the refuse, embarrassed.**

**"I'm so sorry. I was in a rush. The bag was splitting." Zed quickly explains.**

**"As is my head." John decides to join her in policing the debris. "Apologies are mine, luv. Let's get you sorted. If there's one thing I know my way around, it's rubbish." As John heaves a handful into a nearby trash can, Zed glances at him for the first time and recognizes... the man from her drawings. She stops and stares in disbelief.**

"Wait for it…"

**"It's... him. You're you." She breathes.**

**"That observation always ends the same way and it's never in my favor." John comes upon a crumpled sketch of Zed's. Smooths it out. It's a close up sketch of his face. Cigarette in lips. Like a charcoal mirror. John tilts his head, studies it, surprised.**

**"I can't - I don't - I dream of you. I had no idea who you were... I started to think you're not real." She says as she reaches for his face, quite overwhelmed.**

"Now who sounds like a stalker?" Constantine joked as he remembered last episode.

"John!" The artist exclaimed.

**John removes her hand, wary. He looks at Zed, then at the flats above them, and senses a con. "Some kind of carnival quick draw artist, are you? Perched and peeping from your window. Scratch out the visage of some poor lonely sod, then bump into him as his long lost love. Tongue in his ear, hand in his pockets, I'll bet. Nice play, luv, but this is a match I'll be sitting out." John stands to leave.**

**Zed grabs his sleeve, holding him back. "You don't understand. The dirty blond hair. The curled lips. The bad posture."**

"I have brilliant posture."

**"I have brilliant posture." The man in question exclaims, slightly offended.**

"No, you don't."

"I beg to differ!"

**"I've seen it all."**

**"Not well apparently." John plucks a pencil protruding from Zed's purse and pokes holes in the eyes of his sketch, then hands both back to Zed. "There we are. Much darker around the eyes, this one." John sees the last of the mourners disappear into the pub, his chance to follow them inside disappearing with them. As John starts off once again, Zed waves the sketch in his face, a final desperate plea.**

**"Please. You can't go. I don't know who you are, but I need to know." John stops at her call.**

**"Fair enough. You want answers." he pulls Zed in close. Almost too close. Eyes locked. Faces inches apart. John lifts Zed's arm, holds the close up sketch to the sky, and looks at it, whispering in her ear "One artist to another, in light, I always find mine..."**

**Zed squints, blinded, searching for her answer as the sun peeks through the two gouged eyes of John, directly into her eyes. When Zed looks away, however, vision blurry. Her mystery man's gone. He ditched her. Point John. Zed angrily tosses the drawing in the trash can with one hand and with the other reveals that she's holding John's wallet. He won't get away that easy. Point Zed.**

"Nice one. But ho—"

"She will _not_ be joining your crew, Snart."

"Protective much?"

**A working man's bar. No fancy cocktails here. Just beer and whiskey with and plenty of each. John watches as the casket is placed on a low stage where local bands might perform. A photo of Lannis Cadogan sits on an easel. This is a Heddwichstyle wake. As mourners swap stories and raise glasses to the departed, John spots Ellis Mcgee drinking alone, with his back to the proceedings. John takes a stool next to Ellis, signals to the bartender.**

**"Stout." Ellis doesn't acknowledge John, just downs his drink and nods to the bartender for another. "Irony like that's hard to ignore." Ellis briefly glances at John, who indicates the shield above the bar, which features a Red Dragon. "Town's symbol is a dragon and the sorry soul over there was burned alive. Coincidence?"**

The Legends considered it. Based on what they had already seen, it wouldn't surprise them too much. Mick's interest was piqued. He'd love to see a dragon.

**"Don't believe in coincidences."**

**"What do you believe in?" The Bartender slides John his beer and Ellis a fresh whiskey.**

**"I believe we worship at the same alter." Ellis downs the shot. Like the town, Ellis harbors his share of bitterness. John shifts his gaze back to the shield.**

**"What's your take on what happened?"**

**"Fire through the pipes? Rare, but it happens in mining towns."**

**"Maybe if there's fracking. Isn't this the land of hardrock mining?"**

**"What do you know about it?"**

**"Grew up in Liverpool. Breathed in more coal dust than fresh air as a lad." A round of "Hear, hear!" rings across the bar. John glances back to see the miners toasting the dead. "Must've been a good bloke."**

"I wouldn't use good to describe the guy."

**"Lannis was a bastard. But they closed the mine for the day and not too many fellas in these parts need an invitation to get a skin full."**

**A big-shouldered miner named Ed steps to the bar.**

**"Have you considered actual dragons as the guilty party? There's no natural explanation for what happened to poor Lannis." Clocking a miner next to him, John speaks a little louder than necessary to bait him. He falls for it and replies.**

**"You got that right. But it weren't no dragon that took Lannis and the others."**

**"Others?"**

"There were more who got burned?"

**"Nine others. All in the last year."**

**"They died like this bloke?"**

**"Mining accidents. Some of the boys are saying we've dug too deep. We knocked on the door of Hell, and now Hell's knocking back."**

"How ominous. I can understand why people are threatening to quit."

**"Someone heard knocking?" John asked. He was definitely interested now. Ed doesn't answer and promptly returns to the wake. John sees Zed enter and scan the pub, presumably for John. "Gotta run. Thanks for the beer. Next time it's on me, mate." Before Zed can spot him, John ducks out the back door.**

"That was rude. You could've paid yourself."

"I had to go."

Zed followed the conversation

**A stunning quarry. Sheer granite walls, fringed with a lush treeline. A turquoise green lake below. At the bottom of the deep quarry, a dramatic mine entrance sits near the water line, like a portal to inner earth. John is watching the guard on duty. Looking around, John spots a Front End Loader, its scoop high in the air and full of rocks. John ducks low and scurries to the tractor. He turns on the ignition, pushes a button, and then runs. The scoop slowly starts to tip forward. Hearing the noise, the Guard turns to see the heavy rock load dump down and roll down a grade. John grins to himself. As the Guard runs over to investigate, John sneaks into the unguarded mine entrance.**

"I love doing that…"

**Relentless. Foreboding. String lights casting eerie pools of light and shadow. John moves through the eerie space. He turns down a new tunnel to find a new construction area, marked by warning and hazard signs, with minimal lighting. John grabs a mining helmet lying about, switches on the headlamp, and cautiously ducks under the tape to enter.**

**As John moves deeper into the abysmal depths, the mine shaft grows narrower and the ceiling lower. The walls are rougher, dug by shovels and picks. There are few support beams here and rivulets of water trickles down in spots. It's intensely claustrophobic and every fiber of our being is screaming to turn tail and run. As his flashlight illuminates patches of the pitch black shaft, John catches movement among the shadows on the edges of his vision. But when he turns nothing is there. And then John reaches the end. Literally. The deepest bowel of the mine. John places his hand over the working face, where the new coal is cut. Feeling for... what? Oddly, he leans forward and places his ear against the wall, listening. Silence. Looking around, John spots a hand pic. He turns the pick around, grasping the wood handle, and taps the butt of the handle against the mine wall. Three times.**

**_Knock. Knock. Knock._**

"Get out of there…"

**He waits a beat. A tense beat. And then…**

**_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_**

"Creepy…"

**It's distant, subterranean, but magnified by rock and booming in volume and the narrow shaft trembles, dislodging dust and debris, which falls on John's head. Without a second's thought, John does what we wanted to - he turns tail and runs for safety under a shower of billowing dust.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: The Darkness Beneath Part 3**

**The front door is open to Lannis' house. A steady stream of somber mourners arriving with a parade of homemade dishes being carried into the house... and then a frozen entree, the plastic wrap still on it, fresh from the market. John is among them. No trench coat, he enters with his head bowed, less out of respect and more to avoid drawing attention. John shuffles into the house with the others.**

**Mourners cluster in small groups, paper plates in hand. Keeping his head down, John makes his way toward the stairs. Along the way, John passes a cluster of old framed family photos. Generations of miners. Haunted eyes peeping out from coal-masked faces. John lingers on these photos a moment, drawn to his own past. Then he spots yellow tape across the entrance to the hallway, with Beth's handwritten note: PRIVACY PLEASE. Glancing around to make sure nobody is watching, John ducks under the tape and heads down the hall.**

"Smooth" Snart commented.

**As John enters the bathroom, he spots a coal handprint on the door frame. Curious. John steps into the room and grimaces. The shower area shows the devastation of the flaming nozzle. Smoke damage on the walls and ceiling. John eases closer. The shower floor is horribly scorched, except to outlines where Lannis' bare feet stood. John considers this, then turns his head to look up at the showerhead. As he watches, a single drop of black liquid rolls out. It quickly dawns on John that this may not be the smartest move, and he wisely pulls his face from the nozzle's path, just in case. **

"No, don't move. It's such a good idea, staring into a flamethrower shower head."

**John studies the nozzle from the side. He gingerly unscrews the showerhead, lifts it away, and runs his finger over the screen inside of the pipe. Comes away with a dark sludge on his finger tip. Looking around, John grabs an aspirin bottle from the counter, pours the pills down the sink, scrapes the sample of slurry from his finger into the bottle, and caps it.**

"Disgusting."

**"Find what you're looking for?" Beth says from off screen. John swings around, startled. Beth stands in the open doorway, holding a glass of red wine, another faint coal handprint on her forearm.**

**"As a matter of fact, no. My name's John Constantine. Philly Inquirer. I didn't see you out front with the others."**

**"I've been hiding back here. Wishing you'd all go away."**

**"You've got some coal... on your arm there." John hands the widow a washcloth. She dusts her arm off.**

**"There's no escaping it around here. The soot. The grime. It seeps into every pore and fiber."**

**John points towards the shower. "This doesn't make any sense. If you don't mind my asking... what do you think happened?"**

**"Does it matter? Lannis is gone."**

"Yes it matters."

**"If you help me, maybe I can write a story that celebrates his life."**

**"Because our life was just one big celebration."**

**"I'm sorry."**

**"You're sweet."**

"That's something I very rarely hear."

"What?"

"John Constantine and the word sweet in the same sentence."

"Oh"

**"I've heard rumors there's something not... natural down in that mine. Your husband ever talk about that?"**

**"You want a story? Okay I got one for you. It's about a Romani girl from Wales, whose father loved her just a little too much. But she got letters from America. From a rich man who wanted to marry her. Make her his queen. Said he was a captain of industry. Failed to mention it was coal. The teenage girl moved to America and grew old and barren in a clapboard house, but... she was the queen of coal. Now, will that story sell papers?"**

"Probably not."

**"We can talk at a later date."**

**"Why? I'm free now." Beth sets down her wine. She grabs his tie and looks longingly against him. He respectfully twists free. Beth looks down, drunk and humiliated.**

**"Look, you're a lovely bird…"**

"Awkward…"

"Obviously."

**"Get out." She says softly. He begins to leave. "Out. Out!"**

**"It's okay. I'm going." John exits. Beth moves after him. He moves down the hall and into the living room. The mourners all stare as Beth follows.**

**"I want you gone."**

**"No need to make a scene. I don't want any trouble."**

**"Get him out! Make him go!" Among those witnessing this is Thad Bowman, a senior rough-neck, standing with Owen Perkins, one of his managers. Thad nudges a couple of broad-beamed miners to come with him, and moves toward John and Beth.**

**"What's the matter, Beth? Who's this?"**

**"He says he's a reporter." She answers. Thad's eyes narrow as he stares balefully at John.**

**John is thrown hard into a wall. The two broad-beamed Miners hold John against the wall, one of them frisking him. Owen lingers behind, nervous.**

**"Nobody messes with my people. What do you want here?"**

**"It's like the lady said, I'm a reporter."**

**"Without a wallet?" Thad asks as the minor frisking John turns up nothing.**

"Thanks Zed."

"You're welcome."

**"Are you sure?" John asks before it dawns on him "Bollocks. That bloody girl." He looks at the miner "Where'd you learn to frisk somebody, mate. I got I.D. Right rear pocket." **

**The miner reaches around John. John turns back to Miner Two and delivers a wicked combination of street punches that knock him down. John turns to make sure Miner Two is still down and Thad's fist strikes John's jaw, sending him to his knees. Thad holds his hand, and John his jaw. Behind Thad, his men slowly climb to their feet.**

"Ouch."

**"I'm going to ask you one more time. Who are you?"**

**"I take it you're the mine boss."**

"I think that's pretty obvious."

**"I'm the President of NorPenn Mining Company. And you are upsetting the widow of one of my respected men."**

"From what we've seen, I highly doubt he's respected."

**"We both know that ain't true, chief."**

**"Take it easy, Thad. He might be with Environmental Protection." Own breaks in. Thad ignores him.**

**"This one? Not a chance."**

**"In a way, your associate here's correct. You got a not so natural disaster down in that mine. I know it, and you know it. What I can't figure out is why the problem came above ground to kill one of your men."**

"That's one way of looking at it."

**"I don't know what sleazy tabloid you write for, but I got my hands full with scared miners. They need their wits to stay alive in the best of conditions. The biggest threat to them is parasites like you, spreading fear and panic."**

**"You heard 'em, too. Didn't you? The knocks."**

**Deadly serious, Thad steps closer "Go home. If I see you again you'll be dragging yourself home by the arms. That's a promise." He and his men leave.**

**John leaves as well. He drags himself toward his room. The door swings open. John wearily enters. We're surprised as it's the honeymoon suite, pink walls and all. John reacts when the door slams closed behind him on its own accord. John spins to see Zed defiantly standing in front of the closed door.**

"Almost as stalkerish as that angel from the last episode."

**"I'll give you this, you are persistent."**

"One way to describe her."

**"The honeymoon suite?"**

**"I always get the honeymoon suite. Lots of extra room, good energy."**

**"You dropped this." Zed hands him the wallet. John checks it.**

**"There was ninety quid in here."**

"Are you su-"

"She will not be joining your crew."

**""Must've dropped that, too. I described you to the very nice young man at the front desk. He said you're registered in the name of Caligari. Bud Caligari. ID and the boarding pass in your trash say your name is John Constantine."**

**"The garbage again? A girl after my own heart... Zed."**

**"How do you know my name?" She asked, surprise evident in her voice.**

**John pulls a credit card receipt from his pocket, "Credit card receipt from _your _trash."**

**"Ah, so I did make an impression…"**

**"Call me balmy, but I like to know who's stalking me." he reads the receipt, "Vegan Almond Milk and Chicken in a Biskit crackers. Tells me you're a woman at war with yourself." He tosses the receipts, sits on the bed, folds his arms. "Now, about this stalking business."**

The entirety of the audience stared at the man, silently judging him. He ignored them. He thought he heard the word stalker whispered.

**Zed is visibly angry at the man on the bed now, "I'm not stalking you, I… I've been seeing you in my head. For months. And now suddenly you're here. Don't you want to know why?"**

**"In my line of work, I never seek answers to questions that needn't be asked."**

**"What is _your line_? I know nothing about you, but feel like I should. My drawings. My visions. Running into each other today… it's destiny."**

Zed blushed as this was said. It was slightly awkward for everyone to see the moment.

**John is losing interest in this conversation and begins to take off his clothes. "If destiny's what you're looking for, luv, take my ninety quid and put it toward the lottery."**

"Really, Mr. Constantine? Couldn't you leave your clothes on until you were in a different room?" asked a slightly annoyed Time Master. It was more than a little awkward.

**"You mean something to me… maybe I mean something to you, too."**

**"A reason to elevate my personal security."**

"So you both are stalkers." Mick commented. He continued to crunch down on popcorn.

** "I know men like you. Hiding behind bravado. Everything's a joke. Well it isn't to me. I have visions I can't control, and sometimes feelings." A glimmer of vulnerability shines through. She is desperate for an answer and John sees this.**

**"Listen, Zed, I'm starting to like you. But not enough to let you stay. Time to move along." He passes by her to open the door but she grabs his hand. John tries to pull away but she holds tight.**

**"Desperation. Pain. Loneliness. These are the things that motivate you. What kind of man is motivated by such things?" John pulls away as she says this. He looks at her, hard.**

**"Clairsentient. Or just a lucky guesser. Okay, you want answers? Park it." He points to a chair. Zed sits in it. "You'll do exactly as I say, you understand?"**

**"Yes."**

"That's not a good idea…" Anne Marie warned to woman

Zed shivered, she remembered that moment as clear as day, "I really wasn't"

"Then why did you do it?" Jax asked with piqued interest.

**"Close your eyes. I want you to see an image in your mind. A blizzard. Total white out. Everywhere you look, white. Filling your senses, absorbing all sound. All sound except the sound of my voice. Are you with me?" He says this calmly and quietly. He quietly pulls out the vial of sludge from the shower and removes the cap. "Good. There's a white dove lost in the snowstorm. You can't see it but you need to save it. Open your senses. Hold out your hand and let the dove come to you… now." As he says now he drops the sludge into her hand. She jolts and screams.**

**She is in place of Lannis. A stream of flame shoots straight at her. She raises a hand defensively. Her hand incinerates before her eyes. Her eyes shoots open. Instead of seeing John, she sees the silhouette of a six foot tall cross as it towered over him.**

**John calls Zeds name. She comes back to reality. "You saw the fire." John states as Zed breaths hard.**

**"Was that the man in town? Who burned?"**

**"What else did you see?"**

**"A cross. A tall cross."**

**"There, there, luv, you did a bang up job. We're onto something, you and me. I'll grab a quick change, then we're getting to the bottom of this." John grabs fresh clothes and disappears into the bathroom. The shower turns on. **

**Zed settles down, waiting for John. She notices the untouched clean towels on the bed. She walks to the bathroom door, "Hey? John?" She receives no reply, "Constantine!"**

**She tries the door. It is locked. She suspects she's been had once more. She steps back and kicks the door open. The shower is running, the window open. John is nowhere to be found.**

"Seriously? What if he actually had been in the shower?"

**End Chapter**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: The Darkness beneath Part 4**

**There is a giant cross on a hill. Below it sits a small church on the outskirts of Heddwich, away from the town. A crumbling sign reads Good Shepherd Church of St. Asaph. The church would be lovely and picturesque, if not for the fact that its windows were boarded up and the grounds wild and unkempt.**

"Spooky." Ray commented.

**John stands out front with his equipment. He surveys the church. Just another day on the job for the Exorcist. He walks up to the back door, crowbar in hand. He is ready to pry the door open. He finds that this has already been done. He keeps the crowbar out anyway, clutching it as a weapon. He pushes the door open with a creak and enters the dark opening within.**

**He warily enters the small chapel. The church is a little space rendered spooky by dust and disuse and only lit by the small amount of light that peeked through the boarded windows. Walking down the center aisle, he glances at the wall and sees a creepy drawing. It is of a freaky shadow person, exaggerated limbs and a slightly craggy face. It was like the street art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The words next to him identify him as Mr. Pitch. His gaze falls to the dusty floor. Then he hears it.**

"Why does that have be in a church?"

**Rapid breathing. Like a steam train. Barely audible. A grunt. Primal. Guttural. Another. It's unnerving. One can envision a demon ready to spring. John brandishes his crowbar.**

**"You'll make yourself known if you know what's good for you." The breathing stops abruptly as John calls this out. From behind one of the chapel pews, a young man's head pops up and looks around, startled. A young woman's head follows. She sees John, also startled, and grabs for her top. John is silent before speaking, "Really? In a church?"**

Cue the disgusted sounds and exclamations.

**The young man looks guiltily at him as he gets dressed, "Sorry."**

**John glances heavenward, "Don't apologize to me. Put your pants on." John looks away while they dress. He regards the graffiti, "What's this business? Mr. Pitch?"**

**"Just a story. Meant to be scary, you know. Tall man, no face. Follows you home, peeps in your window. It's not very original." Nathan explained as he dressed.**

"Something tells me it's no story."

**"Has anyone seen this being?"**

**"They claim to."**

**"But they're usually drunk."**

**"Where's it manifest itself?"**

**The couple share a look with each other before the girlfriend answers, "Here."**

**John motions for them to leave. As they pass, a quick apology is given. John waits for them to leave before unzipping his magic kit. He pulls out a gallon jug of water and slices his finger. Three drops of blood are dropped into the water.**

**Water jug by his side, John steps onto the raised platform in front of the church and turns to face the pews. John raises the water jug with one hand, and casts a spell in the African language Bemba, with some guttural clicks for emphasis.**

**"Pelako ameso yobe Eleggua imbone ukuchila panshita." With that, John slowly pours the jug of water over his head. The water cascades around his head and down his face. **

**In the middle of the aisle, where John saw the swirls of coal dust, an inky black shadow person rises from the ground. Devoid of eyes, mouth and ears. Its facial structure marked by odd crags and angles. It's Mr. Pitch come to life.**

"Such lovely imagery…"

**Abruptly, the Shadow Person turns his head to camera, looking at John. It marches straight at him, reaching out to grab him. Before it can do so John stops pouring the water, banishing the image. Breathless, John sputters water and gasps for breath, disturbed by his discovery.**

"Who else is officially freaked out now?"

**A/N: Short I know. Sorry bout that… I hope everyone is doing well in this time of insanity. As an odd way to keep morale up, I will be leaving a quote or two from the conversations my friends and I have. The quote of this chapter is the following:**

**Quote:**

**Me: asks a review question about Maryland**

**Friend: REINCARNATION!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: The Darkness Beneath Part 5**

**Near closing time. Only a few lingering customers remain, including Ellis in his usual spot. Zed enters and looks around for John but can't find him. Defeated, she takes a seat next to Ellis, who slugs on his whiskey.**

**"Have you seen an Englishman? Wears a trench coat?" she asked the man.**

"Well, I've seen two. Rip and Constantine."

"This happened a while ago, you know that right? Besides, Rip wasn't exactly there at the time."

**Ellis looked at her, "He stick you with a bar tab, too?" he replied. Zed looks exhausted, defeated. Seeing this, Ellis continued, "My advice. Don't waste yourself on that one."**

"Ouch."

**"I don't have a choice."**

"Yeah, you do. You always have a choice."

**Ellis took a moment to reply as he thought of his son, "My son had that effect when he was alive. Had that hooligan's charm. Left behind clutches of weepy girls who swore he was the one to give their life meaning."**

**"It's not like that. Well okay it is like that, but not for the reasons you think. John means something to me. I just have no idea what."**

"But it's totally not like that. Right…"

SMACK! A pillow hit the commenter dead on.

**"Was a time when people came to me for answers. Now the bartender gets more confessions in a day than I did in a month of Sundays."**

**"Your son? Is he the reason you left your faith?" Zed asked.**

**"I left the church when the mine swallowed him. But I can't say I left my faith. I didn't really have any to begin with."**

**"You had to believe at some point."**

**"Oh, I believed. I believed in the power of goodness to overcome evil. But faith is different than belief. It's an unshakable acceptance with no room for doubt", here he paused, "I'll never have that now. The cursed mine has seen to that." He throws some bills on the bar, turns and exits. Zed watches him go.**

**The first rays of morning light pierce the room. Zed enters, exhausted, shuts the door. She turns on the light and sees John asleep on her couch. He stirs awake. Zed steps in further to see John dragged the couch so that it's sitting in front of her many paintings and sketches of him - slaying demons, conjuring spells, gnawing smokes, and just plain being John.**

"Now you're finding out where she lives. What's this about not being a stalker?"

**"You leave when I want you, you're here when I don't. I'll make it easy for you. Get out. I'm done with you."**

"John does have that affect on people…" Anne Marie spoke up. She said this to no one in particular.

"What?"

**"Don't be that way, luv. I had to verify that which you provided. A strict security protocol is in fact required in my business."**

**"Which you still haven't told me."**

**John rises and moves with purpose. Tables turned, he scrutinizes a painting of himself. "I, as you have so... conventionally portrayed, am an exorcist, demonologist, and... occasional dabbler in the dark arts. Question is who are you?"**

"Still getting those new cards made?"

Cue the chuckles and groans from various members of the audience.

**Zed is caught off guard at the question, "You already know... I'm Zed."**

**"Right, Zed Martin. I found your three-month lease. Why's a Chica Bonita in her mid-20's slumming it in a one-horse Pennsylvania mining town in the middle of Welsh country?" He moves closer.**

**"I travel. A lot."**

**"There's only two types who travel a lot. Those in the circus and those on the run - and curiously, I see no funny wigs or face paint."**

**"I know what I'm running from. Do you?"**

**John pulls up a chair, very close to Zed, and takes a seat, all but pinning her to the sofa. "Let's get this straight. 'Twas you that came to me. Step into my world, you'll be staring down demons, devils, and the like. Those things in your paintings... they're real."**

**"Real?" But John's intensity cuts through any skepticism Zed might have had.**

**"It won't be bad memories nipping at your heels, but the scourge of hell gunning for your soul. And when the bell rings, you'd best be ready, willing, and able to answer with something far more deadly than a charcoal pencil. Think you're up to that, we can talk business. If not, we go our separate ways, and I never see your face again." Zed leans in, a determined look on her face, as John finishes the little speech.**

**"You need me as much as I need you - I'm not going anywhere."**

**"Very well. But before we dive headlong into the depths of Hades - I'd like to know who's jumping by my side." John stares Zed down awaiting, demanding, a response, when - The wail of an alarm pierces the quiet morning. "Is that what I think it is?"**

"Another collapse?"

"Obviously."

**"There's been a mine collapse. I've heard three of those sirens since I've been here." Zed pushes John aside and heads out. John follows her.**

"See?"

**Coal dust billows from the entrance. Miners stumble out, covered in black. Townspeople come running. Zed and John are among them. Voices call out: "Who's hurt!" "Is everybody out?!" "Where's William? I can't find William!"**

"Was William ever found?"

"I don't know."

**Zed doesn't hesitate. She rushes to help. John spies a miner stumbling out - it's Ed from the pub. The man can barely see, coal dust in his eyes. John guides him to sit.**

**"What happened in there?"**

**"It all came down, right on top of us..." the miner gasped out.**

**"Before it happened - knocking. Did you hear the knocking?" The miner looks at John through watery eyes, the fear there confirming the truth. **

**Medical Personnel arrive and take over. John rises, surveys the chaos, and spots - Thad and Owen off to the side. Remembering Thad's warning, John pulls back out of sight but watches them. They're in the middle of a heated argument, too far away to hear. Owen seems the most worked up of the two. Thad tries to calm him. Finally, Thad issues what appears to be an ultimatum and strides off. Owen walks off the other way, walking toward the parking area. John waits a beat and follows.**

"This won't turn out well. Being separated from the larger group."

**We see Zed helping a dazed miner. She hands him off to his anxious family and then looks around. "John? Constantine!" she shouts. As usual, he's nowhere to be found. She shakes her head.**

"Typical Constantine behavior."

**A parking area surrounded by mining vehicles and equipment. With the drama down at the mine, nobody is around. Owen enters his SUV and closes the door. As he puts the keys in the ignition, the passenger door opens and John sits down.**

**"If Thad catches you here…" Owen started.**

**"Men are dying in your mine." The exorcist interrupted him before letting the man continue.**

**"Five years ago, Heddwich was dead. NorPenn saved this town. They said the mine was tapped out but we gave it new life."**

**"Because you're a rogue operation. Digging unauthorized tunnels into regions of the earth where mortal man has no rightful place."**

**"How would you know?"**

**"Been down there, mate. Seen your shoddy supports with my own eyes. Only that's the least of your worries now." Owen stares at John, truly afraid.**

**"It's true, isn't it? What the miners are saying? They hear sounds."**

"Take a guess genius."

"Need I remind you that you are talking to a screen."

**"And they're gonna keep hearing 'em and good men are gonna keep dying till you shut down the mine."**

**"Mr. Bowman will never go for that."**

**"It's the only way to stop the dying." Abruptly, the doors lock. All at once. By an unseen hand. "Now if I'd only gotten to you sooner." John tries the door handle. No good.**

**"What is that?" Owen asks, fear evident, as he looks down. Black slurry rises around the leg of Owen and John. It rises fast. Over their knees. Up their waists. In only seconds.**

"This is why you keep an emergency hammer in reach to break a window."

**"We need something to break the window!"**

"Emergency hamm-"

"We get it Palmer!"

"Sorry…"

**"Check the" Owen is cut off as an arm of slurry rises from the muck, slaps a hand over Owen's forehead, and pulls him backwards into the sludge pool, his seat tilting back with a snap as his head submerges.**

**John leans over and digs around to fish him out. But in seconds the slurry rises to John's chest. His neck. John strains to keep his head over the sloppy mud - to no avail. His head goes under.**

**Zed, running, reaches the SUV and sees it full of slurry. She tries the door. Locked. Looking around, Zed spots a pile of mining equipment. She grabs a heavy steel pry bar. Jams it into the passenger's side door. Leans into the bar. Once. Twice. Gives it everything a third time. The door pops open. Sludge and slurry pour out, finally revealing John, who rolls out of the SUV, dripping muck. He spits out the breath he was holding and gasps for oxygen.**

**"Are you hurt?" she asks, concerned for his well being.**

"What type of question is that?" Ray looked incredulously at her for a moment. Zed shrugged.

**John, too proud to acknowledge that he was about to die, replies with "I had that under control."**

**"You were drowning in mud!"**

"I was perfectly fine!"

"Right." Zed drew out the word. Chas watched the two with hidden amusement.

**"I was thinking a spell in my head. Check on the driver." Zed moves to the SUV and looks in as the receding slurry reveals Owen's head, his mouth agape, oozing black sludge. Zed looks to John and shakes her head. Too late.**

**John and Zed trudge into town along the sidewalk. Both are mired in sludge, making them a gawk-worthy sight for locals.**

"What a sight."

**"Don't torture yourself over it. There was nothing we could do for the blighter. And trust me, we don't want to stick around and get involved in a police investigation."**

**"I still don't understand. What was that inside the car?"**

**"The price of doing business with yours truly. I tried to warn you."**

**"I know. And I'm still here." John casts a sidelong glance at Zed. Indeed, this girl's a gamer. Two oglers have stopped in front of them, staring.**

**"Move along. Nothing to see." John addresses them. They continue on. He returns to the conversation.**

**"So what's going on?" Zed asks.**

**"Back home our miners called 'em Coblynau, but you see 'em in every culture. They're the spirits of dead miners. They knock on walls before cave-ins to warn of danger." Zed has seen enough to be convinced that all of what John says is all real. But it is all very new to her.**

**"So... these "Coblynau"... they're protecting miners? Warning them of trouble, not causing it?"**

**"That's right. Traditional Coblynau never pop to the surface, and they certainly don't murder."**

**"What's the explanation then?" They stop as they reach Zed's loft.**

**"Could be the Rising Darkness. Something's forcing evil to the surface in waves. Changing up the rules. But me? I'm sensing the human touch."**

"This Rising Darkness again… What is it?"

**"Someone called these spirits on purpose."**

**"Nothing says payback like a demon assassin. If I'm right, these bad boys were conjured by someone close by."**

**"Like a miner maybe? I heard them say they're all gathering at the pub for an emergency meeting."**

**"That suits my thirst. Let's clean up. I'll meet you there." Zed heads to her loft, and John turns for the hotel.**

"I could do with a drink right now..."

"Remember Rory, the note said no alcoholic beverages."

**End Chapter**

**The quote of the chapter is**

**Teacher: The next play we will read is a Norwegian play**

**Friend (AM): *Looks to me and asks* What does that mean?**

**Me: It was written by Norwegians**

**AM: Facepalm**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The Darkness Beneath Part 6**

**AN A big thanks to Vamanchu for helping out**

**Thad stands on the stage, trying to calm agitated miners and their families. While most eyes are turned toward Thad, the bar is still open and drinks are being served.**

**He addresses the miners, "Please, everyone, let's stay calm."**

**"Two dead, Thad! And we all know what the hell it is –" A miner interrupted. He was quickly cut off.**

Ray frowned slightly, commenting "How rude."

"How would you feel being put in an unsafe working environment, let alone a back breaking one?" Jax retorted.

**"No. You don't. And crazy rumors aren't going to help anyone." He paused as more shouts broke out. Seeing the moment, he once more began speaking, "Just hold on! All of you!" While Thad holds court at the far end of the pub, John and Zed slip in through a rear entrance. "You want to fly off the handle and make this into some idiotic spook show, then I got nothing to say to you." Seeing Thad, John lowers his head, covers his face, trying to avoid being spotted.**

**"That only makes you look more obvious. Who're you trying to avoid?" Zed states.**

**"Had a bit of a Barney with the roustabout on stage the other day."**

**"That happen to you a lot?"**

**"Hard to believe."**

"If I got a dollar for every time…" Chas chuckled.

**Thad begins talking once more, "We're looking into what killed Owen today, same as we're looking into what happened to Lannis out at his place. You want answers?- you gotta trust us. Trust us to get to the bottom of this."**

**During the above, John and Zed are moving toward the bar. John throws a jaundiced look at Thad that screams, "Bullshit!" John and Zed take seats where Thad can't readily see them. John glances down the bar.**

"It doesn't take a genius to disprove that." Martin frowned as the situation onscreen escalated.

"Well… he could have worded that much better but at least they are working on finding out what happened." Ray said.

Constantine snorted but didn't say anything. Ray will find out eventually.

**"Curious. The skeptical drunk's nowhere to be seen."**

**"You mean the ex-priest."**

**"Come again?"**

**"Ellis. He used to be a priest. Until his son died in the mines…" she goes quiet before realizing something, "Which is a good cause for payback."**

"So Ellis is behind all this?" Kendra looked at Zed and Constantine for an answer.

"Spoilers." Zed replied before the two focused their attention on the TV.

John internally kicked himself at not seeing the full picture as he watched his younger self onscreen.

**"When I gave you the slip yesterday, I found evidence of one of them slurry things being raised in an abandoned church outside town."**

**"The church that Ellis turned his back on. He could be the one conjuring the evil for revenge."**

**"Come on, I'm taking you for a spin." John takes Zed's arm and leads her down the bar, to an old miner sitting in Ellis's stool. John comes up from behind. "'Scuse me, mate, but my lady's havin' a bit of a spell." Playing along, Zed acts faint. The Old Miner, a gentleman, courteously smiles to Zed and steps off his stool. John sits her down. She turns to him.**

Sara stared at that, pursing her lips, before finally stating, "That… that doesn't sound right…"

John thought for a second before he realized what she meant. He groaned and hoped that his time onscreen would end quickly.

**"I get it... Ellis drinks in this spot. This is his stool. But I can't control my visions."**

**As John speaks, he gently places her hands on the counter in front of her, "You did today. Just remember what I told you. Now close your eyes. Lock out the world."**

"Yeah, and last time you got to experience being burned alive." Mick stated.

**Zed closes her eyes. Her face slowly transforms to complete serenity. John studies her. After a few seconds, Zed jumps in her seat, startled, like someone goosed her. "Oh! It's cold…"**

**"What's that, luv?"**

**"My feet."**

**"Slowly, without losing the vision, open your eyes. Look at your feet."**

**Zed opens her eyes and looks down to see her feet dangling in a STREAM. An actual stream. It flows under the bar. Runs right through the pub. Zed smiles, enchanted. "It's a stream!".**

**"Stay in the vision. Look for clues.**

**Zed peers down. In the water, the reflection of a dilapidated camping site - tent, etc. "There's a tent... and... a beat up old chair in front, like a living room chair... I think it's a campground..."**

**Back at the pub, the bartender returns, "You two decide yet?"**

"Yes."

"Last I checked there was a no alcohol ban placed on you."

"Don't remind me."

**"Charlie, is there a camping area on a river hereabouts?"**

**"Rooster Creek's the closest." The two leave the bar and head towards the river.**

**Zed and John walk through a riverside campground. John holds a homemade besom broom of twigs in his hand, pausing to pick up another twig and work it into the bristles. Zed points ahead. John looks to see a permanent camping site, dilapidated tent, and a weathered old living room lounge chair. John and Zed draw nearer to find Ellis, his hunched and frail back to us, stoking a campfire. They speak quietly.**

"What's a broom gonna do against the murderous demonic creature thing this guy is summoning?" Jax asked.

"You could always sweep it away." Sara joked.

Silence.

**"How can such a weak man be capable of such destruction?"**

**"People aren't all good and they aren't all wicked. We move in and out of darkness our whole lives." John stops behind him and hands her the Besom Broom. "Here, bristles up to ward off evil."**

**"What will you use?"**

**"My wits. And a trusty verse to sever a mortal's connection to dark forces. I can twist it to sever limbs, too, but I'll try not to get carried away." John is about to begin when Ellis turns to see them.**

"That hasn't exactly…" Anne Marie began to point out.

**"What are you doing here?" Ellis called out.**

**"Are you Pastor Ellis McGee of the Good Shepherd Church of St. Asaph?"**

**"Not anymore."**

**Zed, caught up in the drama, starts to let her Besom lower. John raises it for her, then turns to Ellis and lifts his powerful voice, "_Et separabunt traductionem alicuius, et omnes Satanae_" **

**Suddenly, almost by rote, Ellis joins in, "_in votis pacta, spiritualia, et animam vinculo, et opera Satanae_."**

Snart snorted, "Cute. You can start a bible group together."

**"You know it." Constantine states.**

**Speaking it after all these years hits Ellis in his gut. "Or course I know it. The Breastplate of St. Patrick. What the hell's going on here?"**

**"I'm ending your spiritual warfare. As a man of the cloth, your skills to channel the divine can also be used to unleash evil."**

**"You think I'm behind the killing in this town?"**

"Well, yes." Ray stated, now not so sure.

Snart, Sara, and Rip collectively face palmed.

**"Your desecrated church has all the power-of-evil you'd need."**

**"You need faith to raise evil. In case you haven't noticed here, I'm all tapped out."**

**Zed sees something in Ellis that John doesn't. "John. Maybe we should listen to him." she interrupts.**

**Ellis scoffs, "Fools. Get your heads out of the hogwash. You can't even see the facts right in front of you."**

**"Like what?" Zed asks.**

**"The men murdered above ground, they're not miners. They're the bosses in charge. Someone's finally making 'em pay. Afraid you're looking for a garden variety killer."**

Ray paled, stating, "Well…"

**John comprehends the truth of what Ellis is suggesting, "You may be half right. How many bosses are left?"**

**"Just one. The owner of the company. Thad Bowman."**

**John turns to Zed, "You carry art supplies in your car? Spray paint's what we need."**

Carter, bewildered by such a comment, asked, "How the hell does spray paint stop demons?"

Constantine bit back his original reply, instead deciding to sarcastically state, "You spray it down their throat before throwing it in. The gits blow up like Bonfire Night."

"Really?" Ray asked.

The exorcist sighed, "Sure."

**The scene changes to show Thad stepping out of the office trailer. He looks back before calling out, "You coming, boy?". Moments later, Nathan (the young man from the church), hurries out.**

**"Yeah, Dad, I'm right here."**

**Both men carry their miner hard-hats as they stride toward the mine entrance.**

**"Peterson said he's cleared the east shaft. But I also know the little yellow-belly was scared to go down there. I want to see for myself before the men start showing up again at first light."**

**"You really think we should reopen the mine so soon? You know, after what happened today?"**

**Thad hides his real reasons, instead saying "Men want to work, boy. Gotta respect that."**

**The scene changes to the mine. Deep shadows. Several dark pockets along the walls, where anything could be hiding. Rivulets of loose coal TRICKLE down, lingering evidence of today's earlier cave-in. Thad and Nathan's hard-hat lights crisscross, creating even more unsettling moving shadows.**

**"Looks okay. Let's check the downshaft."**

**Nathan looks nervously into the darker depths ahead before swallowing his trepidation and following his father as a shadow moves behind them.**

**A displaced rock clatters to the ground, echoing throughout the mine. Thad and Nathan both whip around, their flashlights illuminating the inky black coalface. Nothing there.**

"Seriously? Jump scares? Is this supposed to be looking into the future or a TV show?" Snart wondered.

**"What was that?" Nathan asked fearfully.**

**"Don't you start, boy." Thad warned him. Thad turns and starts ahead as Nathan, after one last look behind them, reluctantly follows.**

**As Thad and Nathan continue, the ground behind them begins to rumble and rocks begin to displace upwards, shooting out in every direction as a disturbing subterranean force drives menacingly toward them. Thad and Nathan turn back to see liquid slurry forcing its way to the surface from deep underground before taking the terrifying form of a Coblynau. Neither Thad or Nathan have any time to react before the Coblynau violently backhands Nathan, sending him flying through the air and thudding into the hard rock wall. He slumps to the ground. The Coblynau's other hand darts out at lightning fast speed, seizing Thad by the throat. We hear a series of sickening crunches as the Coblynau squeezes harder, and as the light begins to dim in Thad's eyes the lights go out.**

**End Chapter**

**Quote:**

**Me: *reading off of a review question list* "how many terms can a president serve?"**

**AM: *is reading answer off board* "2? 2 tennis?"**

**Me: "Tennis? Where'd you get tennis from?"**

**AM: "T-e-n- oh my god, TERMS! 2 TERMS!"**

***twenty seconds later***

**Me: *repeats question***

**AM: "The president can serve 8 terms."**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN**

**So, I will most likely not be posting for the next few months over summer break as I will no longer have the computer I use to post on. I know it's been a while since I posted a chapter and this'll lead to about 10 weeks of non-posting... Sorry... I might be able to work on some of the smaller fics like the "SW Collection of Songfics" or maybe "Different Times" on my phone but it is unlikely... I have a few days left to try and get some stuff done but this is just a heads up. Apologies to all.**


	16. AN: I'm Back

**AN: I'm back. This isn't a chapter but I promise I'll get one out soon. Thanks for sticking with me! Yeah... Also, just out of curiousity, what's the general opinion on the QOTC (quote of the chapter)?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 15: The Darkness Beneath Part 7**

**Zed speeds up. The car doors fly open and John and Zed jump out. They start toward the office, when they hear Nathan's distant terrified cries echoing from the mine entrance. They run that way.**

**At the mine entrance, John just charges in. Zed hesitates the slightest moment, then a "What the fuck, I've come this far" resolved look colors her face, and she races in after him.**

**Nathan stares wide-eyed as the Coblynau's hand squeezes Thad's throat mercilessly. Thad tries to pull away, but the being holds Thad in place with a powerful grip on his arm. Desperate, Nathan moves in, wanting to help. But the Coblynau takes his hand from Thad's arm long enough to backhand Nathan. Nathan goes down, his head slamming into the granite floor, unconscious. John races up. Instantly assesses the situation. John drops to his knees and, with his hands, slaps a hard rhythmic pattern on the mine floor. The Coblynau, still holding Thad, turns its head toward the beat. Behind John, still beating a rhythm on the floor, Zed runs up and stops at the sight of Nathan unconscious at her feet. Then she looks up in dread at the Coblynau holding Thad.**

Jax to an audible breath, "Jesus Christ! Yo, that's messed up!"

**"It is real…" Zed breaths.**

**"Paint!" Constantine calls out to the artist. John stands and raises both hands in peace to the Coblynau, _"Protector of Earth. Guardian of the Soils of Foundation. Be welcome in this sacred space. By the Earth that is your body, and the wisdom of the ancients, embrace us with your safety. Hail and fairwell."_**

**As he speaks Zed uses a white spray paint can to tag the mine wall with a huge sigil. She sprays-paints an inverted triangle, with a line across the bottom. It's the Symbol of Earth Element. The Coblynau lets go of Thad, who falls motionless to the ground. The Coblynau turns, tilts its head toward John, unsure what to make of him. Because of Zed's marking on the wall, the creature can't retreat that way. Instead, it sweeps into the darkness of the mine shaft, disappearing into the mine's deeper recesses.**

"Oh… so that's what the paint was for." Carter spoke to himself.

**"It looked confused. What did we do?" Zed asked.**

**"Reminded it what it is. A protective spirit. Like I said, Coblynau are peaceful buggers at heart."**

"It didn't seem to be peaceful then…" Martin stated.

"Could it be like a AI where you can run a routine but it misunderstands it?"

Snart rose an eyebrow and Sara asked, "Like Terminator?"

**Zed drops down quickly to check Nathan. John crouches and checks Thad. Zed turns Nathan to check him. "He's breathing. He's okay."**

**John is checking Thad's carotid. John removes his hand, brushes off the little bit of coal that transferred from Thad's neck. "This one's not so lucky. Dead."**

**Zed is shaken. She looks at Thad somberly. "_Dios le bendiga_." She then turns to John, "So we're back where we started. Who's turning those things into killers?"**

**"I'm working on it, luv." John, looking over Thad's body, lifts Thad's arm. There's a prominent black coal handprint where the Coblynau held him. "I've seen this before…"**

**"Where?"**

"The wife of the dead miner…" Rip stated.

John gave him a very subtle nod.

**John looks deeper into the mine, where the Coblynau disappeared, then he turns to Zed, an idea forming. "We need to keep anyone from coming down here again. Ever."**

**"How do we do that?"**

**"Only one way I can think of."**

**Zed begins to catch on to his plan, "You want to blow up the mine." John just looks at her. Of course. Zed sighs, "Boys."**

**Nathan begins to stir.**

**"Get him home to his mum. I've got work to do."**

**Pan a line of explosives set in the nooks and crannies of the mine walls, a twine of electrical wires connecting them all. Smudged and sweaty from his labors he carefully setting the last explosive charge in place. Then he connects the wires to a radio detonator and switches it on.**

**John, coal smudged, exits the mine entrance, holding the remote control of the radio detonator. He is surprised to see - Zed's car pulling up. She climbs out. Her passenger door opens to reveal: Ellis. Zed indicates for Ellis to hang back, then she walks over to John.**

**"What's he doing here?"**

**"He should be here to see this."**

**John isn't too sure. But – what the hell.**

**"You did good. Earlier. With the Coblynau. If I failed to mention."**

**"At least I know what line of work you're in now."**

**"Its not for everyone."**

**"When I had my visions, painted you, I knew the darkness around you was real. But to see it..."**

**"So after this, you gonna find a quiet new town? Take up still life?"**

**"Yeah, because I'm that kind of chica bonita." They look at each other. It's a charged moment. Then John's eye goes to the detonation device in his hand.**

**"We really don't want to be standing here."**

"Are you sure you don't want to stand there?" asked Mick.

**They move away. The mine seen in the distance below. John and Zed and Ellis stand on this entrance road carved into the granite face. John holds the detonator Remote Control. Moment, then John places the Remote in the hands of Ellis, who looks up at John, genuinely surprised. "Sometimes appeals of faith just take a little time to be answered. Care to do the honors?"**

**Ellis looks at John, unsure. He looks to Zed, who gives a small nod of quiet assurance. Slowly, Ellis turns to face the mine. The mine that stole his son. He takes a deep breath... and presses the button.**

**The mine entrance blows in a spectacular explosion of flames. The fireball billows. A hail of rock rains into the water. It's a brief but powerful and strangely beautiful spectacle.**

**Ellis can't help but feel deep emotion right now. Zed puts a comforting hand on him.**

Rip couldn't help but sympathize with Ellis. He knew what it was like to lose a child. It gave him a small amount of happiness and hope that Ellis had succeeded in dealing with his loss.

**John turned to Zed, "I need your car keys."**

**"Where are you going?" Zed asks as she hands over the keys.**

**"To do the hard part, of course."**

**"The hard part? You just blasted a mine."**

**"That I did, and the Coblynau will stay at rest, if left alone. But someone with powerful magic dredged 'em to the surface. Sent 'em on this killing mission in the first place. This isn't over until that person is stopped." Without another word, John spins and urgently strides away.**

**He stands on the Cadogan porch at night. John knocks on a door. After a beat, the door opens - to reveal the widow Beth Cadogan, holding her ever-present glass of red.**

**"The reporter, right? Philly Enquirer."**

**"May I come in?"**

**"I'm afraid I have guests."**

**"It's important, Mrs. Cadogan. I know who killed your husband."**

**"Oh. Well, in that case, I think you should meet my guests." John waits but Beth doesn't move from the door.**

**"Are you going to let me in?"**

**"No need. They're right behind you." ****John turns to look behind him. From the shadowy recesses of the porch and surrounding deck, Coblynau step forth. Ten of them in all. Haunting spectral men of death without faces. They converge until John and Beth are encircled. Beth reaches out and strokes one of them on the arm. "Now, you had news for me?"**

"What a bit-"

"Mr. Rory!"

**John is trapped. John stands surrounded. "I'll give you one chance. Send your pets home and I'll spare you. Professional courtesy."**

**"You'll spare me? That's very kind. How did you know?"**

**"The coal handprint on your arm, when I met you. Saw one just like it on a young man the Coblynau were trying to kill. But you were just fine. And then I remembered what you said. You're Romani. Nothing blacker than gypsy magic."**

**"Oh there are blacker things. Half a lifetime in a lonely house. With no children. An abusive husband. Lannis got what he deserved."**

**"I'm not one to judge."**

Snart frowned ever so slightly at that comment. He didn't need to look to see his partner do the same. He could hear him mumble an incoherant thought.

**"When I left Wales, I promised myself I'd never use my family's magic again. But I just couldn't take another day here. And then it all came back to me, more powerfully than ever before."**

**"Don't get your arm in a twist patting yourself on the back. The only reason you were able to do what you did is because there's a darkness spreading everywhere - even to lonesome little backwaters like Heddwich. It's infecting you."**

**"No. You're wrong. I was wronged!"**

**"Who wasn't, you nit. Get over it. Send these poor sods back where they belong."**

**"It's too late for that. They're mine now. And they're going to give me everything I ever wanted. Kill him." she orders the Coblynau.**

A frusterated sigh was heard, "Good job Constantine, bite the hand that can kill you why don't you." Anne Marie exclaimed with exaspiration.

**The Coblynau on either side of John step forward and close on him. John punches the nearest, barrels between two others, and leaps onto a picnic table.**

**"You forgot something, crone. These are the souls of dead miners. And your magic has opened the pathway. _Oh restless spirit of this house! I summon thee to seek thy revenge!. _The Coblynau close around John on the table. Their hands grab his legs and start pulling him down. John tries to fight them off. "_And be bloody quick about it!"_**

Dispite the tense moment, someone stifled a laugh at John's attempt to hurry the spirit up.

**In front of Beth. The floorboards buckle outwards, from the force of something beneath them pressing up, before the wood splinters and bursts open - The head and chests of a Coblynau rise from the deck and clasp Beth by the legs. She looks down in righteous indignation. The face of this Coblynau has more distinct features than the rest - it's Lannis Cadogen.**

**"Lannis?! No! Let go of me! It's not right! I'm the victim! I deserve my –"**

"She wasn't completely wrong..."

"But she wasn't technically correct either."

"The best kind of correct."

**With one fluid yank, the Coblynau pulls Beth off her feet and down into the hole under the house. She disappears from view and all we're left with is horrible screaming. The screaming stops, and the Coblynau that now have John down on the table dematerialize into coal dust. John sits up and waves away the floating dust. Coughing, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a cigarette, and lights up.**

"Seriously?" Sara remarked, "Well that was anticlimactic!"

**John returns to the hotel room and is surprised to see: strange luggage sitting inside his door. He glances over, and is further surprised. Zed on the bed, sketching.**

**"Moving in?" He asks.**

**"You wish."**

**"Afraid I'm in no mood for sparring tonight, darlin'."**

**"Of course not. You almost died." John stopped. How would Zed know? Realizing, John steps around the bed to see her crudely sketching John surrounded by ten Coblynau. "What can I say? You're still in my dreams. I just came to make sure you're okay."**

**"No you didn't. You came to make sure I don't cut out on you again."**

**"Was that your plan?"**

**John removes his coat and sits on the bed. "Look, Zed, there's no denying you provide moderate value in the field."**

**"I saved your life."**

**"That's open for debate. The truth is, I work best alone."**

Zed looked over, "I don't know about that John…"

**"Me, too."**

**"I always put myself first."**

**"That's how I survived."**

**"Anyone who puts their trust in me dies."**

**"Okay you got me there. This is all I know, John. I was waiting, you found me. I don't know what I was waiting for. You don't know what you found. The question is - can we help each other or not?" John stares at Zed on his white sheets.**

**A Constantine voice over begins, "_I suppose it could be liberating. To take a leap of faith. To shrug off the burden of proof for the promise of hope_."**

**"If you'll excuse me, I'm bloody knackered." John flops back on the bed wearily and closes his eyes.**

**"I know that if I leave now, you'll be gone by morning."**

**Eyes closed, John replies "You should be so lucky." He rolls over to his side, already half asleep. Zed glances to another drawing, hidden behind her current sketch of John. It's a drawing of a pair of clean-cut men, their eyes full of troubling menace. Zed folds it, keeping it from John. She turns off the bed light, rises from bed, and moves to the door.**

**The voice over continues, "_But a leap of faith is never easy. In my business, what you can't see can hurt you._"**

**Zed puts a hand on the door and pauses to look back at John.**

**The scene turns to the old church. A shadowy hand reaches out to hit the light switch - revealing Ellis, wearing his priest collar. He looks around, picks up an abandoned hymnal, blows off the dust.**

**The voice over starts again, "_It takes trust to turn darkness to light. And those who trust risk putting their faith in the wrong hands. For there are those who pray for you.._."**

**Ellis puts the hymnal back in the pew. Ellis steps out, reaches over and turns on the dusty hanging light over the doorway. The light washes down on him from above. Lots of work to do, but he's up to the task now.**

**Back at the hotel, John sleeps as peacefully as John Constantine can. Zed sits there. She didn't leave. Instead she sits in a chair, keeping a silent vigil through the night.**

**"_And then there are those who prey on you. And no matter how careful you are, sometimes you just can't tell the difference_." The voice over ends.**

"Ominous…" Ray says as the credits roll. John, Zed, and Chas roll their eyes in unison at the comment.

"And it only escalates from there." Came the voice of Wulfstan from behind them.

**End Episode**

**Quote:**

**Friend (KG): "What does Creon wear on his head?"**

**Me: "Hair."**

**Also during the same class**

**KG: "He was killed by a highwayman on the highway."**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 16: INTERLUDE  
AN: Thanks to Vumanchu for allowing the use of Jason in this chapter. And also for helping write the chapter.**

"And it only escalates from there." Came the voice of Wulfstan from behind them. Just as before, the team turns around to see the two that had appeared behind them.

Jason glared at Wulfstan, feeling a little impatient. He asked, "Alright Wulfstan. I've been patient enough but what in the living fuck are you up to?". This didn't escape both teams eyes, curious themselves. Something just wasn't adding up here.

Wulfstan ran a hand through his hair, taking a minute to respond, "You know why… Save the world and all that…" He dragged out the words why and that. He let out an awkward chuckle.

Jason turned to the crowd for a second before snapping his fingers, and a curtain closed between them. Little did he know, the audience could see their shadows as Jason grips Wulfstan by the shirt but no words were heard.

Constantine, seeing this, commented quietly, "Interesting. Not as amiable as I thought."

"You said it…" Sara replied as the silent argument heated up. It wasn't hard to tell the soldier was far from happy or amused, unlike the hunter, who seemed far to excited for the situation.

Begrudgingly, Renee asked, "What are we going to do? I don't want to stay here forever."

"Yeah. My mom's gonna freak out if I ain't back by 7." Jackson added.

Several eyes looked at him, "Family's coming over." The African-American defended.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Chandler, Mr. Jackson. Wulfstan claimed to have halted time while we ae here. You both should return to the exact moment you left." Rip said, hoping to settle the matter.

His drawl present, Snart argued, "But how can you be certain he'll keep his word? He hasn't been exactly truthful."

As of now, behind the curtain, it looked as if the soldier had tied up the hunter and was hauling up a Vickers machine gun as an interrogation method. The hunter was hastily explaining whatever it was they were talking about in attempt to appease his angered companion. Whatever he was saying, it seemed to have only a small effect.

Ray, ever the optimist, spoke up in half hearted defence, "He must have his reasons for keeping it to himself.". Rip internally winced when he realized that the hunter was doing exactly what he himself had planned on doing when he recruited the legends.

Behind the curtain, the Vickers gun was being dismantled... and replaced with a Livens Poison Gas Projector device.

"Oh, I'm sure his reasons are entirely warranted." Len deadpanned.

"Yeah, okay fine. Time is frozen back home but I have things to do back home. We should really be trying to find a way out." Chas said.

Renee nodded, "I agree with Chas. John, can't you magic everyone out of here?"

John paused for a moment before replying, "I might be able to. Give me a moment." He took a second before chanting. He finished the spell. Nothing happened. Confused, he pulled a dime out of his pocket before attempting to cast a spell to hide it. It stayed visible. Silence.

"So no, you can't get us out of here..."

"What a rip off! I want my money back!" Mick joked. The frusterated Warlock glared at the thief, who just shrugged in response.

The curtain opened and Jason untied Wulfstan. He growled, "Alright, I'll believe you for now, Wulfstan."  
Wulfstan rubbed his wrists. The nervous expression was still present. The two teams watched as the two opposites returned. "Soooo... Now that that's out of the way..." Wulfstan trailed off as he saw the inquisitive looks sent their way. "Let's continue on with the show, shall we?" He asks. Before anyone can reply, the TV begins to play the next episode and the two vanish.**  
**

**End Chapter:  
QOTC:  
AM: Shh, I will run over ppl. Wait what.  
**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 17: The Devil's Vinyl Part 1  
**

**AN: A big thanks again to Vumanchu for helping write character reactions.  
**

**We are outside a modest studio - in 1938 the building is alone on the block - in Memphis' colored section. A fancy 1938 era car parked out front. A modest black couple strolls past.  
Bluesman Willie Cole (60s) tunes his guitar. Judging by his rings and fancy suit, he's done well. It's hot; thermometer is pushing 90. But oddly, Willie is shivering, chilled, and he looks under the weather. Marcus Mooney (20s, white) sets up a Presto audio recorder, getting ready to record a vinyl acetate at 78 rpms. The ****words "WILLIE COLE - 6-18-38" handwritten on the blank label. Marcus nods to Willie  
**

**"All set, Willie. Gonna be a good one tonight." Marcus told Willie.  
**

**"Best record yet." Replied the musician.  
**

**"You look pale. You feeling okay?"  
**

**"Might have a touch of fever."  
**

**"Well I know ya'll like to sing alone, so I'll leave you to it."  
**

"This is where someone dies." States Snart.**  
**

**Marcus turns on the Presto, leaves. Willie sips from a glass of sweet tea. Strums his guitar, singing an eerie lament, "_Sun come sinkin' low, shadows gonna rise. Reaper man come for everyone. Crows are gonna fly, bitch dogs gonna howl. Reaper man come for everyone_" Suddenly, the lights flare as the playback equipment blares out deafening sounds. Then everything dies. Except for the Presto Recorder. Willie shivers, his breath visible. "Hello?" he calls out. The wall thermometer plunges well below 20 as Willie's tea freezes and shatters. Then the control room partition ices over. "No! It's not my time! You promised me! You promised!" Abruptly, the darkness closes around Willie, crushing him. And as Willie's screams reach a fever pitch, we see the iced-over glass partition as blood spatters across it.  
**

A couple audience members flinched as the blood splattered and the screams died out.

"That's... a horrible way to got." Kendra mumbled as she leaned into Carter.

Sara winced, muttering, "always have a backup plan if the deal falls through."**  
**

**We move outside. Time speeds up as the studio ages. Lights fade out, Willie's elegant ride vanishes, and boards cover the windows. Buildings appear to the left and right, the Memphis skyline grows as the studio mural fades and vegetation grows on the building. A 70's car pulls up out front and two 70's era hookers run to the car. They fade away and headlights flare the lens. This is Jasmine's present day car.  
**

**It is now 2014. The studio is now derelict, graffitied. Jasmine leaves her car and approaches, attractive, drawn. She's been crying. She looks at her phone; a photo of a girl (Julilah). Steeling herself, Jasmine forces the front door with a crowbar. Jasmine enters, uneasy. She turns on a flashlight, revealing decades of trash. It's cold here. Jasmine shivers, putting on gloves as her breath becomes visible. As she ventures further in we hear a disconcerting thump-thump up ahead.  
**

"Zombies?" suggested Ray. He got a look thrown his way.**  
**

**Jasmine's flashlight washes over fly-ridden dead animals, all desecrated. A rotting dog has a cross jammed in its carcass. Squirrels are nailed to the wall to make eerie designs. A "Devil's Trap" has been spray-painted on another wall; a circle with Latin inscriptions and a scorpion trapped in the middle. Jasmine heads deeper, eventually coming upon a white-tail deer. Bloated, tongue hanging out. As Jasmine tries to step over it, the deer suddenly kicks violently, not quite dead. It is the source of the thumping. Jasmine gags, heading into the back room.  
**

"So, no zombies." Ray says with slight disappointment.

"No, a zombie deer." Jax joked as he tapped Ray lightly on the shoulder.

Len raised an eyebrow, thinking aloud, "Isn't there some old Native American Ghost story about zombie deer's? What's it called? Wendilo? Wendalo?"

"Wendigo." Rip corrected.**  
**

**Overhead pipes have frozen and burst, dripping with icicles. Jasmine locates a false wall and attacks it with her crowbar, revealing a hidden cache. Crosses jammed inside, surrounding an object wrapped in canvas, coated in ice. Jasmine finds a King James Bible within. Anxious, she opens it, discovering the original acetate Willie Cole made the night he died. She takes it and leaves.  
**

**It's after hours as Jasmine is buzzed inside the recording facility. She finds Bernie Reed, an old-school British music producer.  
**

John smiled slightly at the sight of his old friend before remembering what happened to the producer.**  
**

**"Thanks for seeing me, Bernie." Jasmine tells her partner.  
**

**"No worries, darlin'. Can I fix you something? Spot of tea? Shot of tequila, perhaps?" He can tell something has her on edge.  
**

**"I'm good. We alone?" She politely declines his offer as she pulls out the acetate. We note she's still wearing gloves. As Bernie reaches for it she stops him, "Wait. You should put on gloves. The acetate is old. The oils from your fingerprints could damage it." She offers him a pair of cotton gloves.  
**

**Bernie shrugs, slipping on gloves. He notes the Moonrise Records label on the acetate, then shivers involuntarily, "It's freezing. You keeping it inside an icebox?"  
**

**"Just run the spectrum analysis. I need to know if it's genuine. And whatever you do, don't actually –"  
**

**"- listen to the damn thing. You made that clear."  
**

"Not clear enough it seems." John commented.**  
**

**"Promise me, Bernie…" Jasmine's phone rings, photo of Julilah on screen.  
**

**"Hear no evil, I swear. There's coffee behind the glass. I'll get you when I'm done." Jasmine leaves for the call as Bernie starts the record, studying the strange waveforms on the analyzer. Mesmerized.  
**

**Jasmine is on the other side of a soundproof window that overlooks Bernie in the studio. Wrapping up her call, her back to the studio. "I'll be home soon as I can, honey. Your Mama loves you, okay?" Jasmine hangs up and slips off her coat. She reaches in her purse and removes a parchment document, written in archaic symbols, most of them faded. While Jasmine watches, a letter fades. Only a few left...  
**

Stein sighed muttering, "The sins of the father shouldn't be passed down to the son like that."

"Sometimes we don't get a choice, Professor." John lamented, lazing into the seat.**  
**

**While Jasmine's turned away behind the soundproof glass, Bernie watches the waveforms, hearing Willie Cole's tinny voice coming from some headphones he forgot to unplug. Unable to resist, Bernie puts on the headphones. We hear – "Reaper man come for everyone. Reaper man come for everyone" Then, an inhuman voice intrudes on the track. Bernie squirms in pain. He tries to pull the headphones off, but they chill with frost, cold burning his head. He shrieks, his breath icily visible. He finally tears the headphones off, but pulls the plug from the jack, so the acetate now plays in the studio. His agony doesn't stop.  
**

Even though this had already happened, John couldn't help but mutter, "Take it off, Bernie. Take the headphones off."

**While Bernie writhes, Jasmine is lost in her thoughts. The soundproof glass blocks Bernie's screams.  
Bernie can still hear the voice. Frenzied, he grabs a short, pointed screwdriver on his desk and rams it in his ear, deep into his brain. He lunges forward and slams on the glass as he dies, blood spattering the glass.  
**

"Why was there a screwdriver in a recording studio?" Jax wondered.**  
**

**The pounding jolts Jasmine, who turns and reacts in horror as Bernie slides down the glass. She races back into the studio and finds Bernie slumped dead, his face covered in frost. Acetate still spinning, "CHK CHK CHK" as the needle scrapes the run-off groove. Panicked, she grabs the record and runs.  
**

"Chilling." Snart sarcastically drawled, trying to keep his mind off of what occured**.  
**

**End Chapter  
**

**Quote:  
**

**Me: "What time is it?" *Looks at calculator to check time*  
**

**AM: "What's the type?"**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 18: The Devils Vinyl Part 2**

**AN: Once more I thank Vumanchu for helping with the character reactions. You are a big help!**  
**Zed Martin drives warily, studying the mill house through her windshield. The taxi sits on blocks, undergoing body work.**

**"Hold it right there." Startled, Zed sees Chas approaching, a shotgun aimed at her. "You Zed?" seeing her nervous nod, Chas continued, "John said you might show up. Kinda hoped you wouldn't."**

**"I gathered that, seeing as how he didn't actually give me an address."**

**"How'd you find us?"**

"Stalker..." Said Kendra in a sing-song voice.

**Zed produces a sketch book from her shoulder bag and flips to a page, revealing a sketch of the mill house. "Can I get out?" she asks.**

"It's not like we could've stopped you anyways." John chuckled.

Zed had the decency to blush, looking away.

**Chas stands back and Zed exits the car. She starts towards the mill house. Chas trots to keep up. "John did say you were persistent."**

"That's one way of putting it." Chas replied to his past self.

**"I found a place to live downtown, so you better get used to me."**

**"Zed means 'zero', right? What kind of parents name their kid that?"**

**"Who says my parents named me?"**

"What? Who else would've named you? Ray asked her. She just raised an eyebrow in response.

The Legends facepalmed, with Len stating, "We'll teach it to you later."

**"Go on, then. Say hi to His Satanic Majesty."**

"Oh, please no." John put his face in his hands. Zed stifled a laugh, instead sounding more like an amused choke. Chas looked at the two, remembering exactly what followed next. Team Legends shared a confused look with each other. What was so funny?

**Zed enters the mill house. Constantine, in a room off the main room - buck-naked, daubed head-to-toe in chicken blood. Standing in a circle of salt. A Buzzcocks song blasts over speakers. Atop this, John screams even louder, mouthing an incantation, doing a mad, whirling dervish dance.**

"Wait..."

"Oh."

"Seriously?"

There were multiple sounds of confusion and shock from different members of the audience at wat was going on in the show.

**He chants loudly, first in English then Aramaic and then back again, "_Hear me, most Unnameable of Devourers... Shmaynee la geree la geray ohkleen who guardeth the Eternal Gateway... who natair yat aboola dahba... I seek an audience with one in your embrace - evray metah b'pee mehabbaqaq..._"**

Stein pinched the bridge of his nose. Jackson looked at him and asked, "Do you understand what he's saying?"

Kendra replied, "Gibberish. He's saying a lot of gibberish... and a couple swears."

"No wonder they didn't call back." John muttered.

**As Chas and Zed come in, Zed takes in the scene. Sees John in the room off the main area as Chas gives her the tour.**

**"He looks ridiculous." Zed commented as they passed.**

"That's putting it lightly..." States Sara.

**"He's learning a spell." Chas replied as if this were all normal.**

"So that's what he was chanting. Astoni-"

"shing." Stein's comment is finished by Jax and Sara.

"**Naked?"**

**"Says it helps him concentrate. Come on, I'll give you the penny tour. The Mill belonged to a friend. He called it a 'supernatural safe house'. Most of the stuff here's too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands."**

John had finally uncovered his face, "Which is why you will not be breaking in." He directed the warning at the pair of thieves.

"**It didn't seem this big on the outside."**

**"It's not. I've been measuring the rooms and I keep getting different results. Sometimes, it'll be off by a few inches. Sometimes more –"**

"It's bigger on the inside..." Ray covered a chuckle.

Sara threw a look at him, "Whovian."

**"That doesn't make sense."**

"You have two people who are basically a walking nuclear bomb, myself who's come back from the dead multiple times, two thieves wielding element guns, someone who has a suit allowing him to become insect size, and two reincarnated Egyptians. Nothing makes sense."

"Well I know that now. I figured that out the moment I met him." Zed jabs a finger at the Exorsist next to her.

**"You want sense? You stumbled down the wrong rabbit hole." Chas opens a closet which leads to a surreal corridor that seemingly stretches on to infinity.**

"Have you ever actually found an end?" Stein asked.

John shook his head, "No. I don't plan on trying anytime soon either."

**"Easy, mate" Zed turns to see John now behind them. Wiping chicken blood from his face with a towel. "Even I'm not ready for that one yet. What I think Chas meant is, don't go wandering here without a chaperone. Now, you want to make yourself useful?" moments later. John's cleaned up and dressed. The trio at the millstone table, Liv's Map spread out, stained with blood stigmata. "Each of these stigmata indicates a place where something bad is going down. Supernatural brushfires, if you will. Me and Chas, a few others - we're the bucket brigade." Zed studies the map, then a nearby newspaper with an article about Bernie Reed's death. The headline reads: "LEGENDARY MUSIC PRODUCER, DEAD BY APPARENT SUICIDE".**

Rip thought for a moment, "The headline isn't exactly incorrect." He looked at John, "He doomed himself when he made the deal, essentially commiting suicide that took a bit longer to happen."

John nodded, "You're catching on."

"**And this is your latest fire?"**

**"Bernie was a friend of mine. No way in hell he'd take his own life."**

**"Doesn't mean his death was one of your stigmata."**  
**John grins, pointing to a blood stain on Chicago. "Bernie worked in the Windy City and I don't believe in coincidences. Go on. See if you get a hit" he looks to Chas, **

**"She's a regular psychic smorgasbord, this one. Picks up impressions from tactile stimuli, which I'm guessing is kind of a buzz-kill in the sack."**

"Do you get these visions from any object or does the ability have specific requirments to work?" Stein asked, wanting to know as much as he could about the subject. After all, it would be useful if they were to come in contact with the three later. He didn't get an answer.

**Zed ignores that and touches the photo. With a shiver, Zed looks down to see jasmine flowers under her feet. When she looks up she's literally standing in a field of jasmine. "I smell jasmine, it's all around me and I'm cold."**

**"Right. I'll let you know if any of that pans out." With John's voice, Zed finds herself back in the mill house. John turns to go, but Zed grabs his arm.**

**"No. You're not ducking out on me again. You promised you'd teach me about my abilities."**

"Is this really the time?"

"Yes..."

**"Teaching you is one thing. Letting you ride shotgun on a spiritual scavenger hunt is another beast."**

**"You said you didn't believe in coincidences. And I showed up just as you were planning to leave. This is my education."**

"See?"

**"Chas's cab is still down. You got a car? Does the air conditioning work?" Zed nods again. John surrenders and gestures to the stairs. "Knock yourself out, then, MacDuff. But I'm in charge of music." As Zed exits, John looks to Chas, lowering his voice.**

Zed winced, "Not the greatest idea..."

"My taste in music is perfectly fine!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

**"Girl's got skills." Chas told the exorcist.**

"Thank you!" Zed tossed her hands in the air in mock huff.

**"And she's easy on the eyes." John added on.**

She sighed. Of course that was what he would say.

**"But?"**

**"She showed up out of nowhere last week. Maybe she's legit or maybe she has more unseemly motives. Either way, I'm better off keeping her close for now. See what you can dig up on her, would you?"**

"Love the trust you put in me."

"You came and popped up without warning and knew who I was! What did you expect?"

"Fair point."

"Just wait for later in the episode..."

"Wait. What?"

"Chas!"

**It is now day. John and Zed are standing outside the Chicago Morgue. They are standing by Zed's car near the personnel entrance. As workers file in and out, John opens his bag.**

**"What's in the man purse?" Zed asked.**

**"Bits and bobs. Every case is different, but certain items I find myself using again and again - holy water, police scanner, cemetery dirt, duct tape..."**

"Not the usual kit I'd carry..." Snart said.

At the same time, Mick had said "Police scanner?"

**Zed reaches in and pulls out a lodestone (a piece of magnetite) with two rusty nails clinging to it. "What about this?"**

**"Nails from the coffin of St. Padua. Patron of lost people. Watch…" As John lifts a nail up, the other nail spins around on the lodestone, reorienting in the direction of the first nail. "The nails follow one another. Tuck that in some bloke's pocket, you've got a nifty tracking device. Now if I'd only brought something to get us through that door."**

**Zed glances around. As a grey-coat employee brushes past, she steps in front of him, bumping into him. "I'm so sorry. I really need to be more careful." The man smiles and waves. It's okay. What guy wouldn't want Zed to bump into him? He continues forward and Zed turns to John, revealing the palmed swipe card she holds. "Will this help?"**

Here Snart turned, "Are you sure you don't want t -"

"No." Zed interrupted before he could complete the offer again.

"Fine..."

**"One day I'm going to find out where you learned how to do that." Only half joking, John takes the card. ****John uses the swipe card to open the door, and he and Zed sneak in cautiously, finding it empty but for corpses. John starts pulling sheets from the bodies until he locates Bernie's body. The man's chest showing the stitched-up incision post-autopsy. John sucks in his breath, saddened by what he sees. "We've got minutes at most. Damit, Bernie, look at you."**

**"How did you two know each other?"**

**"Back in Jurassic times, I fronted a punk band called Mucous Membrane. That's right, I wasn't always an upstanding warlock. Bernie here produced our first and only record. He tried his best, but the truth is, we were just a bunch of wankers looking to get laid. Bernie found himself some real stars, I fell into more sordid pursuits - and here we are, reunited for one final comeback tour courtesy of this –" John unwraps a petrified human hand. The fingertips have been turned into candles. Zed stares at it, aghast. "A Hand of Glory. Take the left hand from a man that's been hanged, pickle it in amniotic fluid for seven years. Say the right incantation and the dead will rise for as long as the candles burn." John pulled out two bags of blood and tossed them to Zed before continuing, "Here, empty those onto the floor."**

John got an incredulous looks from the revalation, "Mucous Membrane?" Carter parroted.

John shrugged, "Yeah."

**"I take it this is human blood." Zed asked though it came out as a statement.**

**"Tapped it myself." He replied. As Zed empties the blood, John uses his lighter on the hand. As it sputters, throwing off smoke, he shouts "Hear me, most Unnameable of Devourers. He who guardeth the Golden Gateway. I seek an audience with one in your embrace". John looks at Bernie's body, expectant, but nothing happens. Puzzled, he leans closer, slapping Bernie's face, "Come on, old boy, wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey" Bernie's corpse bolts upright, shrieking. Zed jumps and even John is caught off guard because now – every corpse is thrashing about or banging in their metal tombs. Bernie and the other recently dead are thrashing and wailing. John shoves the Hand of Glory at Zed, "Hold this!" then grips Bernie, shouting over the unholy din, "Bernie, it's John!"**

"The spell you were learning earlier!"

**Bernie snaps his head around to look at John, his fear-filled eyes suddenly flooding with recognition. And pain. "Johnny?" Bernie asks.**  
**John smiles reassuringly even as his eyes glaze with tears. "It's me, mate, your old friend. Tell me who did this to you."**

**"The voice. Oh god, the voice!" he wails.**

**"I don't understand, Bernie."**

**"On the acetate! It was so cold!" Bernie sags, his brief resurrection ebbing. John looks to Zed, sees that two of the Hand's candles have sputtered out.**

**"Bring the hand closer! Hurry!" John orders Zed. Zed complies, joining John. John keeps trying to prop Bernie up, but the corpse is literally turning back to dead weight, "Come on, Bernie, don't leave me yet! Give me something else." Bernie offers a slurred whisper. John puts an ear to his friend's mouth as the last finger candle sputters out.**

**"Moonrise…" Bernie speaks his last words and slumps into stillness. The other corpses follow suit, like marionettes with strings cut. The morgue is a mess, bodies sprawled all over, some having flopped off gurneys. John closes Bernie's eyes, gentle.**

**"Rest in peace, mate." John whispers.**

**Moments later, John and Zed are walking to her car, pensive. Zed is on her smartphone, furiously typing away.**

**"You okay?" Zed asks, concerned for John.**

**"For most of those stiffs, dying was the worst moment of their existence. It certainly was for Bernie. And I forced the poor sod to live it all over again." He replied.**

There were a few shivers around the room.

**"You said every spell had its price. What did that one cost?"**

**"My own mortality. A few days worth. Sort of like a reverse mortgage."**

A couple snickers here and there.

"You do that a lot?"

"More then you know..."

**"I do what it takes. Now, we need to swing by the library to follow Bernie's leads - a voice, an acetate, and 'Moonrise', whatever that refers to."**

**"I'm guessing "Moonrise Records." According to Google, an 'acetate' was an early vinyl record. Bernie was in the music business and there used to be a Blues label called Moonrise back in the 30s." she read the information off of her phone.**

**"You don't say."**

**"The owner, Marcus Mooney, is still alive. He just turned a hundred, according to this article. I won't call it a coincidence, since you don't believe in them, but he's in a nursing home a few hours from here. We could pay him a visit." They get to the car and stop, "Or we could 'swing by the library'."**

**"Don't get cocky."**

"Cocky? I think that describes you more, John." Anne Marie commented.

**End chapter**

**Quote:**

**Me: *needs to print something for class and looks at teammate (KG)* "Oh wait, you're printing."**

**KG: *Is taping pictures down on poster***


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 19: The Devils Vinyl Part 3**

**AN: 2 chapters in one day... Wow.**

**We are back at Ian's mansion. It is night. Jasmine silently creeps down the hall, still carrying her backpack and wearing gloves. She enters a home study adorned with framed gold records and filled with recording equipment. She pulls a step stool to a set of shelves, then fishes the acetate from her pack, standing on tippy toes so she can hide it on the very top shelf –**

"Why not try to destroy it?" Ray asked.

"I could burn it..." Mick zoned out for a second, hand moving to where he usually kept his gun.

**"Mom?" Jasmine spins. Her daughter, Julilah (10), stands in the door. Jasmine steps down, stripping off her gloves. "What are you doing?"**

**"Nothing, I just –" Jasmine pauses before deflecting the question, "Why are you up?"**

"Deflection."

**"I had a nightmare. Someone was trying to take you away from me. You were screaming –"**

Carter frowned, being one of the few audience members to have had a kid and knew they were curious, and muttered "Foreshadowing."

**"I'm not going anywhere, Julilah."**

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Sara said, mind going to her absent mother who had left her and her family years ago.

**As Jasmine approaches and hugs her, Julilah stiffens, "Mom, look behind you."**

**It is still night as John and Zed stand before a bored, battle axed duty nurse, "Hi, we're here to see Marcus Mooney." John tells her. He speaks with a southern accent instead of his usual.**

"Not gonna lie, I almost didn't realize it was you." Ray noted.

**"Visiting hours are over."**

"Something tells me that won't stop you."

"Why would it?"

**Constantine flashes the Nurse a 9 of diamonds playing card, "Health and Human Services. I'm sure you can make an exception."**

**The Duty Nurse looks and sees in John's hand: A HEA John's hand: a health and human services I.D. CARD. She waves them through. As they walk past. "That's a neat trick." Zed mentions.**

"Psychic paper."

"Ray! This is not the time!"

"There's always time for Dr Who references..."

**"Not a trick. Magick. And not the Copperfield kind. The card's charmed. It has a pretty bloody back story, but the gist is; it takes on the appearance of whatever its holder requires. In this case, the I.D. of a loyal servant of the American Government."**

"Where can I get one?" Snart asked. It would be useful for many a heist...

**"Where can I get one?"**

**John smiles. As if. They enter the room Marcus resides in. He is on last legs, hooked up to monitors, breathing through an oxygen tube in his nose. As John and Zed enter, he seems to sense them, his eyes fluttering open. "Who are you?" he wheezes.**

**Zed moves to Marcus' side, gently taking his hand in her own. "Friends, if you'll have us."**

**"You seem like a friend. That one has a shadow dogging his soul."**

"That's putting it lightly."

**"More than one, Marcus. I'm John Constantine. Don't expect you to remember me from back in the day, but I need some help. I came to ask about the acetate"**  
**Marcus is horrified, "Don't tell me you played it!"**

"If I played it, how would I be asking him about it?"

**"No. But a friend of mine might've. And now he's dead. Can you shed some light on the matter?"**

**"I'm so tired. Been carrying this burden for so long."**

**"Give us the weight, then." Zed whispers gently. She smiles and softly squeezes his hand. John studies studies Zed, grudgingly impressed with her ability to put people at ease.**

**"You ever hear of Willie Cole?"**

**"Memphis bluesman. Burned bright in the 30s, then up and vanished." Constantine answers.**

**"I used to produce him. Legend was, the Willie sold his soul to the Devil. Never put much stock in it. But when I found him dead, I believed . Wasn't nothing left but blood" There are brief memory flashes, a younger Marcus coming upon the upon scene. The Presto recorder, still on, the needle skipping over the final groove. "Turns out the acetate recorded something when he died. The Deceiver's voice."**

"Really? It would be amazing if someone survived to tell exactly what it sounds like..." Stein said aloud. No one noticed John wince.

**"That's just an urban legend, mate. You know how many "recordings" of the Devil's voice I've heard?"**

**"This one's real. I heard whispers when I picked it up, even without playing it. In my head, telling me to do horrible things. And it was cold to the touch." Another memory flash as young Marcus picks up and holds the acetate. He hears the whispers, reacting in pain as he drops the record. "I took it to my pastor and he played it. Killed his whole family. That's what it does, see? Anyone who listens to it goes mad."**

**"Why didn't you destroy it?" Zed asks.**

"My question exactly!" Ray said.

"And you'd get it if you stopped interrupting." John shot back.

**"I tried, but nothing worked. I couldn't break it, burn it. So I hid it. Sealed it up in a wall, closed the studio. Prayed." Younger Marcus hides the acetate in the Bible. He places it in the wall cache and covers it up with drywall and paint. "Been living in fear ever since, worrying someone would find it. Now it looks like somebody has."**

"Oh."

**"Any idea how Bernie came across it?"**

**"Lots of people hunting for years. Think they can 'tame' the voice. Make it work for them." He shakes his head, "A private investigator came to see me last week. He knew the legend. Offered to buy the acetate for five million dollars. Fool." He laughs ruefully, the suffers through a rasping cough. Zed pours him water, which he gratefully drinks. "Might be he found the damn thing anyway, gave it to your friend."**

**"This investigator didn't happen to mention who he was working or?"**

**"No, but I saw a name on the check. Fell." John reacts to that, clocking the name. But now Marcus is growing weaker, drifting off to sleep.**

**Zed squeezes his hand, "You did great, Marcus. Thank you."**

**Marcus smiles at her, "The weight doesn't feel so heavy any more. Think it's time to go to my reward, now."**

**"Why do you say that?"**

**"I see an angel standing there…" Marcus's breath grows more labored. Like he's nearing death. Scared for him, Zed suddenly turns and runs down the hallways.**

**"Nurse!" John goes to the hallway as Zed runs toward a nursing station. A nurse, startled by Zed's shout, fumbles a handful of files. Time stops as the papers flutter down for all except John. Zed's in mid-run. The nurse's papers stop in mid-fight. John takes a second to let this soak in, then turns towards Marcus' room, where Manny is now standing. The angel smiles, placing a finger over his lips as John nears.**

"And he's back..." John grumbled. He wasn't a huge fan of Manny.

**"I'm assuming your presence here confirms that his story's legit?"**

**"Something was recorded that night. As for whether or not it was the Devil with a capital D, I can't say. But if it was the First of the Fallen's voice and it gets into the wrong hands – you have to find it, John."**

**"So how about you ring the God Squad and call in reinforcements?"**

Sara looked at him as if he had gone crazy, "The God Squad?"

**"You know I can't."**

**"Then tell me this" He gestures to Zed, still frozen in he hallway, "You nudge this little minx in my direction?"**

**"No. That wasn't my doing." Manny answers, but before John can request clarification, Manny raises an index finger to Marcus' forehead even as the whine of an alarm from one of the moniters cycles up and normal time resumes. Manny is gone. Marcus is flat-lining. He seems at peace. Zed suddenly resumes running in the hallway. The papers drop. Hearing the alarm, Zed goes back to John.**

**"He said he saw an angel. Maybe it means he's in a better place."**

"Not that angel..."

**"Wrong angel." Suprisingly gentle, John squeezes Marcus's hand then releases it, "best we bugger off."**

This was a rarely seen side of John that the audience witnessed.

**They are back in Zed's car. Zed drives while John watches the landscape roll by.**

**Zed breaks the silence, "You recognized the name that Bernie mentioned, didn't you? Fell."**

**"Remember I said Bernie found some real stars? The brightest was a metalhead named Ian Fell. Kid was a mediocre talent, then one day, bang, he starts shredding the guitar. Music industry's in the crapper, but this kid's spinning gold like Midas.**

**"He sold his soul." Zed summarizes knowingly.**

**"I'd bet my life on it. You don't seem surprised by the idea of Old Scratch bartering for souls."**

"That's a good point. It's almost as if you've dealt with something like this before." Rip stated, studying Zed's reaction on the TV and in the room.

**Zed changes her demeanor, perhaps covering something up, "Oh well, you know… I've read the stories. What I never understood is why does he even want our souls?"**

**"The Devil used to be an angel. That's why he's called 'First of the Fallen'. Ask a holy-type and they'll tell you the sould is the 'purest expression of God's love'. The spark of Creation. So every time the First takes a soul, he's exacting revenge. Paying the Almighty back for casting him out." He points outside at Ian's mansion, "Pull over. We're here."**

**End Chapter:**

**QOTC:**

**LA: I'm gonna spank your lips**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 20: The Devils Vinyl Part 4**

**Zed has parked near a security gate, behind which is a sprawling mansion. John walks to the wall and pulls himself over it.**

**"What are you doing?" Zed asks.**

**"Breaking into Ian's mansion."**

**"But that's –"**

"Fun?" Mick mutters. Len smirks. The other Legends frown at the comment.

**"Against the law? So is almost everything I do, luv." John gets situated on the wall and extends a hand to her.**

**"It's not the law I'm worried about. It's a security system. You didn't even check." Zed ignores his hand and leaps onto the wall expertly pulls herself to the top. Again, John is silently impressed.**

Snart frowned at John's disregard of the possibility of detection. The frown went away as he considered offering Zed a chance to join them before remembering her rejection of the offer.

**John and Zed make their way carefully through the grounds, looking in windows as they go. Finally, they arrive outside a home studio.**

**Ian Fell (40s) sits inside, playing guitar, his back to the rest of the house. On the wall are various gold records adorned with satanic symbols. Outside, John can hear the muffled guitar as he tries the patio doors, but the door is locked. So he kicks open the glass doors. Ian stands, alarmed, as John charges and shoves him against the wall, knocking several framed gold records from their hooks. John shakes him, all menace.**

"That's one way to approach someone..."

**"Wait, who are you?!" Ian cries out.**

"An angry Englishman."

**"Don't shout, don't squirm. Or I'll apply a pressure point to your sacral plexus that will have you using a colostomy bag for life. Got it, squire?" Ian nods, scared. Zed watches, unnerved by John's intensity. **

**"How did Bernie get the acetate?"**

Ray winced at the threat, even if it was directed at Ian. That was a good one for interrogation. It was very persuasive...

**"Acetate, what -?!"**

**"Bernie was a friend, Ian. And if he died as a result of a deal you made, there's gonna be retribution."**

**"I don't know anything about a deal!"**

**"A no-talent hack turns overnight sensation, and you're telling me you didn't take a short cut? Your albums are dripping with satanic symbols." He scoops one up, "This is the First of the Fallen's true name. Only people who've made a pact are given this symbol."**

**Zed tries to catch John's attention, "John, somethings happening. I'm smelling jasmine."**

"Jasmine... That's the name of the wife." Kendra came to realization.

**John doesn't look her way, "The guy's trying to back out of a deal and people are dying. He needs to cop it."**

"I don't think he was the one to make the deal." Sara said at the confused look Ian had.

**From off screen, we here a voice, "He can't.". Jasmine stands just behind them, a handgun pointed at John's chest. "He didn't make the deal. I did."**

Surprised at the revelation, Jax commented, "I did not see that one coming."

**End Chapter:**

**QOTC:**

**AJ: Can't wait for the sweet day of death to punch me through the door.**

**Me: What…**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 21: The Devils Vinyl Part 5**

**Defensive, Jasmine holds her gun on John. Ian stares at his wife in disbelief. John is entertained, however, like he's living a good soap opera.**

**"Jasmine Fell. Off-key back-up singer and loyal spouse. You made the deal with your own soul. Ain't love grand."**

**"Who are these people, Jasmine?"**

**"We're not here to hurt you." Zed breaks in, trying to reign in the standoff.**

"When has that ever worked?" Sara asked, thinking back to when she had used the line. It rarely worked for her.

**John has other ideas, "Don't be so sure. Night's still young and Bernie's still dead."**

"Really? I don't think that'll help the situation."

**Jasmine, already wavering and wracked with guilt, lowers the gun. Zed eases over and takes the firearm from her. "Oh God, this is a nightmare…" She chokes.**

"That's one way of putting it." Anne-Marie states,

**"Tell me what's going on." Ian pleads with his wife.**  
**John looks harshly at her, "Yes, tell him how you entered a contract you're now trying to break, at the cost of lives, just so this one could climb the charts."**

**"That's not it."**

**"'Course, the money didn't exactly hurt your own lifestyle, did it? Mega mansion. Shiny clothes. Did you even check the price tag of those shoes?"**

**"Ian was dying! He had cancer… leukemia."**

"How hard is it to break a contract from other-worldly forces anyhow?" Sara wondered.

"Tale a wild guess, Sara." John deadpanned.

**John is beat, "Didn't see that coming." He states.**

**"You sacrificed your soul for his life." Zed breathed.**

**In an ironic tone, Ian sums up what he'd just learned, "Lemme get this straight. My cancer went into remission because my wife sold her soul to the devil." The other three trade looks and nod. "Who are you people?" Ian asks once more.**

"Seriously?" Rip deadpanned, "Out of all the things you say, you say the very words that will get you admitted to an Asylum."

**"Consider us your counselors in the occult." John replies before turning to Jasmine, "Show him the contract."**

Snart's eyebrow rose, "Seriously, hell uses paper contracts?"

"What would you expect, and iPad with a touchscreen to write up on?" John retorted.

**Jasmine goes to a desk and pulls out the parchment rune seen earlier, but only a few symbols remain fully visible. "Remember your first stay in the hospital? They said you had a month, maybe two. We didn't even have medical insurance. A man came to me in the waiting room that night. He said his name was Anton." She explains.**

"Something tells me that once those symbols are gone." Ray trails off at the nod he gets.

**John frowns, "A soul broker, by the sound of it. They troll hospitals for the dying."**

**"I signed the thing. I didn't even think it was real. But then you went into total remission."**

"And that's why you read the terms of service that always pops up." Jaxs commented in a strained joking manner.

Stein added, "What fool doesn't read the terms of service, present exceptions being excluded of course."

Mick and Snart looked at Stein for a bit, wondering whether to rob his identity to go on a purchasing spree or to just sell his future work online.

**John takes the parchment and looks it over. "Etruscan rune. This Anton may have been a skeevy bloke but he had a toe in the nether-realm all right." He pauses, "take a look…" He holds out the rune. They stare as another symbol fades.**

"That's really not good." Ray adds onto his earlier realization.

**"Anton said that when the last words faded, the First of the Fallen would return to claim his prize."**

**"Why are you trying to break the deal, Jasmine?"**

"Because she likes living? Sara threw out.

**"It wasn't my idea. Anton got back in touch. Told me he could trade my soul back for the acetate."**

**"A Soul Broker never breaks a deal. He'd lose his right of parley with the underworld. This doesn't line up."**

**"What did Anton want you to do?" Ian asked.**

"Find a music disc that protects people?" Ray said, trying to lighten the mood.

**"Hunt down the acetate. He knew my husband's a rock star. With money and endless resources."**

**Zed added in, "He also knew you had motivation." She indicates a family photo with their daughter.**

Len frowned. Using a child as leverage, even if not directly, did not sit right at all with him.

**Jasmine looks at it and tears up. "When you're a teenager, twenty years feels like forever. You don't think about things… like children. I can't leave Julilah without a mother. It took a team of detectives, but we tracked down the acetate. I only brought it to Bernie for verification. I never wanted him to hear it…" she chokes out.**

**Julilah, awaked by the voices, comes down the hallway, concerned. "Mommy? Why are you crying?".**  
**Hearing her, Ian goes into the hallway to meet her, "Mommy's okay, honey. Come here. You should be sleeping.". Ian picks her up, glancing back toward Jasmine, a look like "might be better if she doesn't see this." Jasmine remains with John and Zed.**

**"So when was this Anton expecting to lay his hands on the acetate?"**

**"I'm supposed to take it to him tonight. He texted me an address." Jasmine pulls out her cell, which is decorated with blue sky and sunflowers, to show a text, but John plucks the phone away.**

"You could've at least asked." Len drawled.

**"Let me handle this for you. I'm your only shot at ending this nightmare. Give us a hug, then." John suddenly leans close and gives the frightened Jasmine a totally out of character hug. Zed shoots John a WTF.**

**"Thank you…" Jasmine whispers.**

"Don't thank him yet." Anne-Marie warned.

**When Jasmine returns inside the house, John turns to Zed. "Well, that's a bloody mystery."**

**"That Jasmine loved her husband enough to sacrifice her soul?"**

**"No, that a blow dried zero like Ian Fell actually made it to the bigs all on his own. Call me a cab, luv, before I change my mind." John says before a scene change.**

Que the amused and incredulous sounds from the audience.

**He is in the Chicago projects. It is still night. There are busted cars and graffiti everywhere. John exits the cab, watches it peel away. He checks the address on the sketchy building against the one in the text on Jasmine's phone, then heads inside.**

**John comes off a landing into a corridor, illuminated by the blue light of bug zappers. buzzing and snapping as John moves to a door with a Satanic cross painted on the wood. He pushes that open, going into a large room.**

**Chickens cluck in hanging cages. Talismans dangle from the ceiling. John hears the sound of a TV evangelist and looks across the room to a sheet of white translucent plastic. The blue glow of the tv set on the other side. From behind the plastic steps Anton (40s).**

**"You must be Anton."**

**"Who are you?"**

**"Someone who knows that Soul Brokers are ambulance chasers, not original thinkers. Save a human soul? A wall licker like you don't have the power. What kind of con are you running on the lady?"**

**"It's no con. Give me the acetate, and i'll give her what she wants."**

**John steps forward and dives Anton against the wall, holding him firmly there. "She wants her soul. And it's not yours to give. You traded it twenty years ago for Ian Fell's life."**

**"Don't say his name!"**

**"Why not?"**

Ray looked up, "What's wrong with saying his name?" he asked innocently.

"Names have meaning, and meanings have power." John stressed.

**Anton angrily shoves John off him. "Thanks a lot! Thanks for nothing! You just blew my deal." From behind the plastic, John hears the melodic basso of low laughter. John instantly realizes the mistake he made. He strides to the plastic and yanks it down, revealing the back of a man in a chair watching a preacher on tv.**

**"Ian Fell. Thank you, Constantine. At least I know where to find the acetate now." The man says.**

John glared at the screen.

**John hates himself in this moment. The man stands and turns into the light to reveal Papa Midnite (30s), an imposing, bearded Haitian with a dandy but dirty suit. All the light and darkness of the world dances in Midnite's eyes.**

**"Papa Midnite. Didn't take you for a fan of religious broadcasting. Unless there's a Voodou Channel ****I'm missing in my basic cable package."**

A chuckle rippled through the seated audience. Sara tilted her head, Len asking the question running through both their minds, "Papa Midnite?"

"Sounds like a pimp's name." Mick laughed.

**"On the contrary, there's a lot these learned men can teach me."**

**"Like what? How to trick a desperate woman into using all her resources to obtain a deadly artifact for you? That recording in your hands gives you more power than I'm comfortable with."**

**"Name it and claim it."**

**"Come again?"**

**"It's the basic building block of televangelism. There are promises waiting out there for us, if we only have the courage to name them and claim them." Midnite looks past John and subtly nods his head.**

**"That's just the kind of backwoods thinking I expect from a cheating, drug-dealing voodou priest like -" But as John talks, two heavily muscles enforcers of Midnite's materialize like specters from the shadows behind him. These are Traylor and Creed. Coming up from behind him, Traylor cracks John across the skull with the butt of his handgun, dropping him mid-sentence.**

"I should have seen that coming." John mumbled.

**Anton, who has been watching the exchange, turns tail and races out of the room.**

Rip scowled at the screen, "Coward."

**End Chapter:**

**QOTC:**

**KG: What was that I said about kidnapping?**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 22: The Devils Vinyl Part 6  
**

**Jasmine and Zed sit on the couch. Ian pours a glass of scotch.  
**

"I need a drink." Mick mumbled.**  
**

**Jasmine breaks the silence, "I never would've done this if I new it meant losing my family."  
**

**"I think it was brave. All of it." Zed says, tring to be encouraging.  
**

**"Wish I could believe that. If I'd known the risk..."  
**

"You would've thought about it more?" Kendra said.**  
**

**"You still would have tried. Holding onto the people you love, that's everything."  
**

Len thought about his sister, wondering about the amount of times he sacrificed himself to protect and provide for her. Sara thought about Laurel, regret swelling in her heart for hurting her so many times and how she wished things to be different. Mick, well, kept quiet. Thpugh, one would notice some soft huffing and a look of longing in his eyes which quickly disappeared when Haircut tried to get a look. Rip looked down, thinking of Miranda and Jonas.**  
**

**While the three sit together, Julilah eavesdrops on the adults talking about the "disc". Concerned and curious, she turns down the hall.  
**

"This doesn't look good..." Ray murmured.**  
**

**Julilah slides a step stool over to the top shelf, climbs, and pulls out the acetate. She comes down and removes the acetate, touching it with her bare hands. She blinks, staring at the disc like it's almost speaking to her.  
**

**"Okay... Okay..." She walks the acetate to the turntable, "I do want to hear you... I do..." She turns on the audio system and places the acetate on the turntable. The acetate begins to spin. Julilah stares at it, the spinning hypnotic, the she drops the needle.  
**

**Willie Cole begins to sing in the recording, "_Sun come sinkin' low, shadows gonna rise. Reaper man come for everyone_..." As Julilah leans toward the speaker, listening intently.  
**

"Please let someone figure out what's going on." Kendra whispered.**  
**

**Back in the front room, Zed hears the distant music, "What's that music?"  
**

**Jasmine turns, trying to place it, then, "Oh God, NO - Julilah -." Ian and Jasmine bolt down the hallway, Zed hot on their heels.  
**

Various audience members let held breaths go.**  
**

**They burst into the studio as Willie's voice stutters. Julilah stands riveted next to the speakers. Ian and Jasmine run to her. Zed bursts in behind them and kicks over the turntable. Ian and Jasmine cradle Julilah, snapping her out of the trance. Zed watches Ian and Jasmine hold their daughter.  
**

**We're in a derelict warehouse. It is still night. A close in on a hand holding brightly colored powder. Lips blow. The dust falls on John's face, startling him awake.  
**

**John is on his back. He is zip-tied at the wrists and ankles behind a long abandoned warehouse surrounded by urban decay. No one around for miles, except for Papa Midnite, who stands over John in the failing streetlight.  
**

**"They tell me this place used to flourish. Busy factories making things, workers scurrying. Now... It's a concrete graveyard."  
**

**John pulls at the zip-ties., "All of this, just to get me alone. I'm flattered, but you're going to need to respect my boundries - I don't do zip-ties without a safe word."  
**

Someone choked in the background.**  
**

**"That's copper covered in plastic. More than effective against your mail-order magic." Midnite fills a hypodermic needle from a small bottle, "My men are unburdening Ian Fell of his problem as we speak. Thanks to you, Constantine."  
**

John huffed at the comment, "Mail-order magic."**  
**

**"What do you want with that acetate, Midnite? You're no chaos-monger. There's no money in that."  
**

**"It's an insurance policy. A get out of hell free card. Don't tell me that's not why you're after it."  
**

"Sounds useful."

"No."**  
**

**John, suddenly uncomfortable with the subject, changes it. "I lied about Ian Fell."  
**

**"It's possible. For you, lying is easy. You've been at it so long you forgot what it's like to work hard for something." Mitnite unceremoniously jabs John in the arm with the needle.  
**

**"What's that?"  
**

**"Heparin. An anti-coagulant." Mitnite pulls out a ceremonial dagger from his bag and slices John across the upper arm. Blood begins to leak out. It hurts like a bitch, but John grits through it. "You'll have four hours, roughly. That's if you stay very still and say your prayers."  
**

**"Slow death, but not too slow, is that it?"  
**

**"If you are lying about Ian Fell, I need to be able to come back and question you more... aggressively."  
**

"Sounds fun..." Len states sarcastically though one could see the wince.**  
**

**"Always known you as a voodou priest with a flare for the dramatic. But a cold blooded killer? It's a bit common, no?"  
**

**"I do what's needed. But I don't need to darken my soul tonight. Not with the situation firmly in hand." Midnite pulls one more thing from his bag. A pill bottle. "A pharmaceutical does of vitamin K. This will stop the bleeding. If you can get to it. He places the bottle on a broken wall, well out of reach. "Consider it a show of professional respect. If you live, you'll have worked very hard indeed. If you die, it will be alone with your many, many sins." With that, Midnite turns on his heel and walks away.  
**

**CRACK! BOOM! Thunder and lightning, a good old Midwestern thunder storm. The raid starts heavy. "Right. Why not." John sighs. The water mixes with John's bleeding arm in a red puddle.  
**

Sara turned slightly, "How often does this happen?"**  
**

**End Chapter:  
**

**QOTC:  
**

**Me: Do we need to go back on the quest? *actual word is test*  
**


End file.
